


Stuck With Me

by SavageNutella46



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Damian Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Damian is so stupid and I love it, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Lila Rossi Bashing, Multi, brotp Adrien for life, i love Adrien like a bother, i would like someone to punch lila please, jason is smart for once, seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 22,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24930658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SavageNutella46/pseuds/SavageNutella46
Summary: The legends say that you can see your soulmate through the other end of your mirror once the gods determine you worthy and mature enough.Marinette never believed she had a soulmate.She never realized her luck when her pen-pal-turned-best-friend of seven years happened to be on the other side of her mirror, fixing his appearance as if his most precious friend wasn't on the verge of a panic attack.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Chloé Bourgeois/Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne
Comments: 334
Kudos: 942





	1. In Which Marinette Mourns in Lost Coffee.

Marinette never believed she had a soulmate. Contrary to popular belief, she believed they were a time waster and decided not to think about them, ever.

While her classmates all gushed about seeing their other half in the mirror, she resigned to thinking of herself as incompatible with anyone.

She had a really low self-esteem, as you can clearly determine.

But now that was all off the table, because Marinette totally wasn't freaking out.

She was okay.

Was being the key word.

She was totally freaking out.  
________________________________

Earlier...

"I cannot believe you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Looking up from her crouch on the lunch table, she saw two of her best friends, Chloe Bourgeois and Adrien Agreste. After Lila made good on her promise to take all of her friends away, the only people she had left were, surprisingly, a freakishly good guitarist, a world class fencer, and three of the richest people on earth. While Damian lived in Gotham, she usually only had four people by her side indefinitely. 

Like seriously, it was like they were glued to her side.

Adrien looked at her with mild irritation while Chloe just looked done with her.

"Uh, what did I do this time?" She questioned, pronouncing her words slowly.

"Adrien told me what you said about Damian, and while I hate the bastard, I swear on my mother and the fashion gods if you ever say the f-word again, I will BLACKLIST you from every fashion house in the WORLD, so be it!" Chloe fumed at her.

"Chloe, you know I don't say bad words," she frowned.

"I'm not talking about the swear word! No! I'm talking about the big fat elephant in the room! The word F-R-I-E-N-D!" Chloe spelled out as if she were talking to a toddler, which in this case, she felt she was.

"Damian is my friend! I think that's all he'll ever be, contrary to Jason and your beliefs!" She pouted.

"See, this is what I was afraid of Chloe, she's being a total me!" Adrien expressed.

Adrien and Marinette weren't dating. Oh, no. They were like brother and sister. After the identity reveal between the four of them, things became super close. it was a hard-to-breathe-close. Marinette had encouraged him to ask Kagami out and it bloomed into a wonderful relationship.

They were soulmates.

"You are in love with Damian, bug! I see the way you look at him, as if he hung up the stars all by himself. Whenever you talk about him you get this dreamy look on your face. And don't you dare say you're not good enough for him! He's just a friend, my ass." Adrien pouted.

Marinette never got to think about what Adrien had said, because next thing she knew she was being doused in sickly-sweet coffee.

Seriously? What a waste of good coffee.

She gasped and turned around to find Lila staring at her with mock-pity.

"M-Marinette! I'm s-so sorry!" She wailed, turning on the water-works.

She silently mocked her obvious attempts to look like a cute school-girl.

What a bitch.

"You did that on purpose!" Chloe accused, pointing a perfectly-manicured finger at her.

"Chill out, Chloe! She did nothing wrong. She just happened to bump into Marinette and now you guys are bullying her for something she can't control!" Alya yelled in frustration while comforting a crying Lila.

Marinette stood up, and promptly ran out of the lunchroom with tears in her eyes.

She felt those god damned eyes on the back of her head smirking at her, and she would inevitably show them who’s boss.

"Marinette!" A voice called.

"Marinette!" The voice tried again.

That's when she realized she was in the bathroom having a panic attack on the dirty wet floor.

Through her blurred vision, she saw a red blob known as Tikki waving her arms at her.

She tried to breathe, but it felt like there was a fifty-pound brick on her chest. 

How could someone be so cruel as to spread lies about her, physically and mentally abuse her, and now waste perfectly good coffee on her?

"Marinette you have to calm down! You'll be akumatized!" Tikki wailed.

Right. She could do this. She could calm down and wash up.

She tried to take deep breaths.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

She shakily stood up, only to be met with a bone-crushing hug from her blue-eyed friend.

"That skank! She tried to turn the whole thing on you! I stepped on her ingrown toenails and came down here to find you. Come on, let's get you cleaned up and changed out of those disgusting clothes." Chloe cracked her knuckles. 

Using lunch time as a makeover, she returned to class for the rest of the day enduring disgusted looks and harsh whispers and stepped outside.

It was snowing.

She forgot to bring a jacket.

Just her luck.

She shivered her way home to be met with a warm hug from her parents and her mother fussing over her choice of clothing.

"Marinette, sweetie, where is your jacket? You're freezing! Come on, I'll get you some cocoa." Her mother fussed.

With it being so close to Christmas, the bakery had Christmas themed everything. From streamers to cookies. The bakery exuded a warmth that was hard to match.

She curled up on the couch and flicked through the channels to the news.

"Don't be bemused, It's just the news! Nadia Chamak here with breaking news! A new akuma has been spotted near the Eiffel Tower-"

Marinette groaned and chucked the blankets that were offering her sweet peace off her body.

Ladybug dropped down next to Chat Noir.

"What do we got, Chaton?" She analyzed the akuma.

The akuma was about twenty feet tall, throwing knives at people out of a machine it carried out of its hand.

"I am Ravager!" The akuma roared.

Yikes. Hawkmoth was getting more and more desperate as the years passed by, providing a lot of dangerous and deadly akumas.

"This looks like a tricky one Ladybug." Ryuuko, Queen Bee, and Viperion dropped down next to them.

Dodging a knife, she shivered in discontent.

They all jumped into action, dodging knives and trying to get close to the akuma.

Twenty minutes had passed by and it was like they hadn't made any progress at all.

"Ladybug watch out!" Chat Noir called.

She turned to face the akuma who was currently swinging a knife two times the size of her body at her.

Uh, oh.

She gasped in pain as the knife hit her body, slashing open her stomach as she hit the rubble of the destroyed buildings.

"LADYBUG!" Chat Noir screamed.

From the corner of her quickly fading vision, she saw Nadia Chamak pointing her camera at her and Chat Noir jumping towards the akuma in fury while Viperion ran over to scoop her up.

"Hang on, LB." Luka's soothing voice sounded as if he was five miles away from her.

She needed to summon her lucky charm. With situations like these her trusted team would put together an idea, she knew it.

"Time for a little luck" She whispered, dazed.

Her lucky charm dropped down, and while she was hoping for a machine gun, she got tree sap.

"LB, one of these days Tikki is gonna give you a cute puppy and tell you to roll with it." Viperion rolled his eyes.

"You better make it work, weirdo." She slurred, closing her eyes.

She woke up to someone gently pulling the hair out of her sweaty face.

She groaned, sitting up only to flop back on the ground as a sharp pain hit her stomach.

"Yikes, that's gonna hurts for a few weeks." Queen Bee muttered.

Funny thing about the Miraculous cure, it healed just about everyone except for permanent miraculous holders.

(It sounds freaking weird but hey, I don't make the rules.)

As she peeled her eyes open, she saw the other Parisian heroes looking at her with sympathy.

"Did it work?" She mumbled through a mouthful of blood.

God, her body ached.

"Of course it did, M'lady, we just need you to purify the akuma and toss up your lucky charm." Chat Noir winked from where her head rested on his lap.

After the deed was done and she was stitched up, she was dragged- I mean, carried by her team up to her balcony where they said their farewells.

"Don't be a stranger." Viperion had waved.

"You better go to sleep this time, Marinette." Ryuuko glared.

She got concerned looks from Chat and a pointed look from Queen Bee as she made her way to her down. 

Marinette flopped on her bed taking heed of her stitches, and decided she was ready to sleep her way into next week, when she did a double take.

"What the fu-?" She yelled.

Looking in the mirror and seeing your six foot best friend with the most beautiful green eyes and black hair straightening his tie was not something you ever expect to see.

Oh, no. She knew what it meant.

And she was totally freaking out.


	2. In Which the Plot Grows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People get suspicious, and other people are dumb hypocrites

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so REALLY IMPORTANT NOTE!: Just because Marinette can see Damian through her mirror, doesn’t mean Damian is able to see her.
> 
> >:D

Damian Wayne was many things.

An ex-assassin?

Sure!

Son of a billionaire?

You betcha!

A mind reader?

Ye- no.

So imagine his surprise when his best friend of seven years suddenly can't get a sentence out her mouth without stuttering.

It's adorable, but he's worried.

"Angel, are you okay?" He asked.

"U-uh, y-yep! I'm totally o-okay! But say, do y-you believe in s-soulmates?" She questioned, over the phone.

He pondered. "Angel, of course I believe in something that is 100% real." He rolled his eyes. "Why? Are you telling me you suddenly looked in the mirror and found someone other than yourself staring back at you?"

Silence.

"You did, didn't you." He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Uh, y-yes?" She squeaked.

"And who might be on the other side, angel?"

"You're breaking up! Beep boop! I can't hear you!" Marinette shouted into the phone.

Dejected, he said his goodbyes and hung up. Why did he feel so disappointed? It wasn't like he liked Marinette, right?

Oh.

He liked Marinette.

-

After demolishing a punching bag and trying to reverse his feelings for nearly an hour, he checked up on situation in Paris.

Even though the Miraculous Team has forbidden them from interfering didn't mean they were gonna ignore the situation completely.

Checking up on the Coccinelle website, which had been set up after the Ladyblog was deemed unreliable, he saw footage of the latest akuma, Ravager.

Wincing at the six inch cut Ladybug got on her stomach, he couldn't help but feel a familiar feeling at the sight of her masked face.

Marinette didn't know what to do.

Francios-DuPont and Gotham Academy had a pen-pal system between others around the globe and Marinette just so happened to be paired with Damian all those years ago.

Damian was her best friend! When she first met him, he was a nuisance and constantly corrected her on her English and grammar in his letters as her pen pal.

As time passed by, she found herself growing fond of the tan boy and her feelings reciprocated, so they exchanged numbers.

After safely taking her place as his best friend,—next to Jon of course— she had traveled to Gotham sporadically and met his family, all immediately taking a liking to her.

Even though they all collectively left at the sound of a phone ringing, she still loved them.

They were like a second family to her.

Crazy how fate works. Right?

There was so much on her mind and only one thing could calm her down.

She gathered all her bearings and traveled to the best coffee shop in Paris.

She was at her table, gulping down coffee like it was water when she heard it.

The laugh she came to despise.

Lila Rossi was laughing with Alya Cesaire, whispering to each other and staring at Marinette as if she was the scum of the earth.

"Mari-trash, don't you have anything better to do than get fat drinking coffee?" Alya sneered at her.

As if she wasn't also drinking coffee.

She took a deep breath to stop herself from round-housing both of them in the face.

“Hah! Look, she has nothing to say! What a pushover.”

She honestly didn’t know who was talking anymore. Their voices melted together to make one obnoxiously loud noise.

Her head was seriously about to burst off when Lila was interrupted.

"I think it's hilarious you chide Marinette on her beverage choices when you have the same idea, hypocrite." A voice jutted in.

She turned to look at the one and only Tim Drake, holding an extra large coffee looking as if he hadn't slept in three days.

He probably hasn't, let's be honest.

"Timmy!" She ran over and tackled him in a hug, careful of her fresh stitches.

"Hey, sunshine." He smiles and hugged back.

"What are you doing here?" She questioned.

Being the CEO of one of the biggest enterprises in the world had its ups and downs. Ups being he got to see his favorite future sister-in-law on a business trip. ;)

"Here on a business trip, sunshine. Just stopping by to recharge."

Downs being he never got sleep. Like, ever.

"Sorry to break up the moment your having with this pedophile, Marinette, but I just wanted to apologize for earlier. Remember that? When I spilled coffee all over you and you started crying?" Lila burst out laughing.

Alya and Lila high-fived while Tim, Mari, and all of the coffee shop regulars who knew Mari glared at them.

As Lila and Alya sauntered away, Marinette turned to Tim.

"Is Damian here?" She asked.

Tim grinned knowingly. "Sorry, sunshine. He's got a big project but he was going planning to visit with the rest of the family on Christmas." He winked at her.

She blushed, "That's good, because um... I have something to tell you, and it's kind of about him."

"Oh? Let's talk about it then." They both traveled to the bakery together.

As she set down the plate of macaroons, she wiped her clammy hands on her pants. She looked at Tim who stared back at her growing anxious with every passing second.

"Mari? Are you alright?" He was starting to get worried. Had they gotten into a fight? They usually only bickered about small stuff, like pineapple on pizza, which Marinette thought was delicious. Literally everyone disagreed with her in retaliation. She usually wasn't like this unless something was bothering her to no extent.

"U-um, well, you know that thing about soulmates where you can supposedly see them through your mirror?"

Tim almost groaned in relief.

"Of course cupcake, are you telling me you saw Damian instead of your beautiful reflection?" He said through a mouthful of macaroon.

"That's precisely what I'm saying." She groaned, flopping down on the couch next to him and slapping her hands on her eyes.

"Mari, we HAVE to go upstairs and look through the mirror and you have to tell me whatever embarrassing stuff he's doing! Mari?" He frowned, looking down at her.

She was looking back at him with a dejected look on her face.

"Mari? What's wrong? Do you not like Demon Spawn? I can see why." He chuckled but looked at her with concern.

"It's not that, he's my best friend," she paused, looking around for any glaring Chloes or sad Adriens, "I just, never believed in soulmates. My whole life I've been stuck in my own hole of grief and spite because I never thought I was good enough for anyone, what If I’m not?” She sighed.

"Maybe I'm being stupid, but would he write me off as a joke and reject me? Before you say something, just know that 3% of soulmates get rejected by their other half." She glared at Tim.

He grimaced. "Cupcake, your gonna listen to me and listen to me good." He used the bat-glare he learned from Bruce, "you are MDC! World renowned fashion designer and protégé of Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, and freaking Audrey Bourgeois! Don't tell me you're not good enough when your more than he could ever ask for.”

He wiped the tears she didn't know were streaming down her face. "Do you really mean that?" She looked at him hopefully.

He looked down at her, "Of course I mean it. I meant every word I said, Marinette."

The door burst down.

"You're paying for that, Jason!" Her mother yelled from downstairs.

"Timbers texted me and said you were being self-deprecating again!" The one and only Jason Todd chided.

She looked at him quizzically. "How'd you even get here that fast?"

Jason looked nervous. "Uh, never mind that, pixie-pop!" He sobered and grabbed a macaroon. "But seriously, what's wrong?"

"Damians her soulmate and she's afraid she's not good enough! Like seriously, cupcake! You're wayyy better than him!" Tim answered for her. 

Jason tackled her in a hug and she gasped in pain. 

Shit, she totally forgot about her stitches.

"Mari? Are you okay?" Jason looked at her worriedly.

"Yeah." She gritted. "I fell down the stairs yesterday and cut myself on the edge of the railing." She knew she was pushing it with the lie, but it's not like they understood the commitments of risking your life everyday for the safety of other people.

Jason hesitated for a second and she thought he knew it was a lie. 

She almost cried in relief when he rolled his eyes. "You gotta be more careful, Pixie-pop! You might lose even more of your brain cells!"

"I- wait, what?" She gasped, "How dare you! Not all of us have the attention span to read a twentieth-century literature book like you, nerd!"

Jason barked out a laugh, "Seriously though, Pixie, if you ever think in any way you aren't good enough for Demon Spawn, I'll smack you very softly in the head." He warned.

Marinette nodded.

"Thanks, guys. I guess I just never believed I had a soulmate." She looked at them.

"Crazy talk! Everyone has a soulmate!" Tim added " Except for that Lila girl." His face darkened.

"Yeah, what the fuck is wrong with that sausage?" Jason growled.

"My guess is, she got dropped on her head as a baby and contracted the stupid-disease."

And with that, they were all laughing and talking as if nothing happened.

Tim's soulmate was Conner Kent, and while they were very happy together, Conner agreed with Marinette that pineapple belonged on pizza.

Jason's soulmate was a lovely brown-eyed girl he met at a flower shop. 

Marinette's soulmate was Damian Wayne.

Marinette was going to faint, and it totally wasn't because she hadn't slept in two days.

She had good reason! Finding out her soulmate was someone that she had unknowingly been in love with for the past seven years had hit her with mind-breaking clarity!

God, she hoped she could get a sentence out her damned mouth without stuttering.

To say Damian was frustrated was an understatement.

Marinette wasn't answering him, and now Jason and Tim were in Paris with her.

What he couldn't figure out, was why.

Until Jason called him.

"What up, Demon Spawn?" He greeted.

"Tell me what you're doing in Paris, Todd." He growled, "Are you bothering Marinette again?"

"Psh, I've got better things to do than bother your girlfriend, Demon." Damian grimaced, "I'm following leads on the Hawkmoth situation." Jason's voice sobered.

"Right. Haven't you noticed Ladybug looks a little... familiar?" He asked.

Jason sighed, "That's what I was thinking, but every time I try to dig more into it, there's like this magical veil that stops me from decoding it."

They all knew Ladybug hadn't wanted them to interfere, scared they might be akumatized and their skills could be used against her, but they couldn't help wanting to know more about a completely bizarre situation.

"God, is there anything you can do by yourself, Todd?" He rolled his eyes.

"Let's see you try, brat." Jason rebutted.

"I'm coming over."

"You can't do that!" Jason shouted.

"And why not? I deem you incapable of completing the task at hand."

"Listen! You just can't!" His voice sounded strained, as if he knew something Damian didn't.

"I've got better things to do than listen to you, Todd." He growled. "I'm coming over." And with a click, the call ended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was rlly bad. It’s honestly just a filler. The next chapter is ten times better I promise luv :D. Also THANK YOU SO MUCH for your sweet comments! They made my day 10x better!


	3. In Which Discoveries are Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What the title said. Also made with more brotherly love!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter made me cackle.

As the jet landed, Damian rubbed his hands over his face.

This wasn't supposed to be happening.

His best friend wasn't supposed to be stuttering around him, his brothers weren't supposed to be damn idiots, and he wasn't supposed to be in Paris, but things change.

Sighing, he crossed the street, hoping to find his way to the bakery when obnoxiously loud chatter caught his attention.

"Damian took me on a lovely date last week!" 

Oh, no. He knew this girl. This was Lila Rossi and one of her stinky-sheep, Alya Cesaire.

"OMG, girl! I can't seem to wrap my head around this. You and Damian Wayne?" She practically yelled for the whole city to hear.

Whatever excitement he had to see Marinette was gone and replaced with annoyance deep down in his gut.

He could end this girls whole career.

Shaking his head, he made his way to the bakery and as soon as his body was past the door, he was engulfed with a hug.

"Damian, honey! You've gotten so thin! Jason and Tim are upstairs with Marinette! Go join them!" Sabine shoved a plate of cookies in his hands and pushed him up the stairs.

As he poked his head through the door, he saw Marinette on the couch, laughing at something Drake had said, and god, she looked angelic.

He cleared his throat and put the cookies on the table.

"Hey, angel." He smiled at her.

"Oh my god!" Jason yelled. "He's smiling! Timbers, get the tranquilizer!"

He rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Todd. As if you think I'm smiling for you. Grow up."

Marinette made her way over to him and his senses were immediately enveloped with strawberries and fresh baked bread as she reached up to hug him.

"Hi, Dami." She whispered, as those words only ever held the same fondness for him.

"I missed you." He knew he looked like a love-struck idiot, but he couldn't help it.

His heart was bursting and the butterflies in his stomach intensified as she looked at him with her deep, striking bluebell eyes.

He could spend all day staring at them, and he was almost considering it, when Jason interrupted them. 

Seriously? Ruin my mood why don't you.

"Uh, sorry to ruin your moment or whatever, but Timbers has a meeting and me and Damian have business to attend to." Jason looked at him pointedly.

"Right. I'll see you later, Angel." He waved.

"O-of course. Bye guys!" Marinette blushed in embarrassment.

Once they were in the car, Tim and Jason looked at him with shit-eating grins on their face.

"What." He crosses his arms.

They looked at each other and for the second time that day, he felt they knew something he didn't.

Fine, Be that way. he thought.

They quickly sobered up though, as Jason started addressing him.

"Listen Demon Brat," He looked in the rear view mirror of his Rolls Royce, "I think I have more info on the Ladybug situation."

Damian rolled his eyes, "What, they have Ladybug-shaped macaroons?"

"Damn, that would be a good idea, but no. I have something you might wanna see."

After dropping Tim off at his meeting, Damian settled in a chair in front of Jason's computer.

"What do you have?" He inquired.

Jason pulled up a video on the latest akuma, Ravager and zoomed through to the part where Ladybug got a major cut by the akuma.

"This. I saw this exac-"

The ground rumbled.

They both looked at each other.

"Shit!"

Looking out the window, he saw a giant baby in a purple onzie and a magenta mask pulling a building out of the ground and sucking on it.

Jason ran out the door.

"Todd! You imbecile! Come back!" He stood up and ran out after him, grumbling.

Marinette sighed for the fourth time that day.

Gigantitan was one of the most reoccurring akumas, so to see him tearing up the streets was not a surprise.

She ran out on to the street to find a safe place to transform and jumped into battle.

"Be careful, Ladybug." Ryuuko warned.

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Let's just get this over with." She called for her lucky charm.

The rope dropped down, so close to her when it was intercepted by Gigantitan who quickly threw the rope around her.

"Ugh, seriously?" August was five years old now, which meant he understood what Hawkmoth was saying and used his size to his advantage.

She struggled against the ropes when suddenly Jason called her civilian name.

She whipped her head around to find him staring at her, flabbergasted.

Oh shit! He knew!

How did he know?

Damian ran in behind him and put his hands on his knees.

She turned back to the fight to find Queen Bee running to her and untangling her from the rope she was struggling against.

Jason stared at Ladybug, who was looking like Marinette every second he looked at her.

He already had his suspicions, both of them had the exact same height down to the centimeter, and they both wore ridiculous pigtails all the time.

(He would be lying if he said it didn't make him wanna pinch her cheeks though.)

The nail in the coffin was her darn run-in with the knife akuma.

Also, her atrocious lie? Who did she think she could fool with that? 'I cut my stomach on the stair railing.' Yeah, and Jason was a mermaid.

Damian flicked his ear, "What the heck was that, idiot? You go running into danger without your stupid helmet? Are you crazy?"

"I know who she is, Damian."

"Who, Ladybug?" Damian looked at Ladybug throwing her rope around the giant toddler.

"No, Batman." Jason looked at his exasperated face.

"Oh, so now you're crazy and stupid?" Damian pushed him.

"How about you be a little more articulate, Demon." He pushed back.

Damian was about to tackle him when Chat Noir flew into the building next to them.

"This is why I told you to get out of the way, fatty!" Damian glared.

Chat Noir walked up to them and viewed the scene. "Jas- you guys might wanna move. This toddler gets really angry."

"Are you okay, dude?" Jason looked at him.

"Yeah, but you should see Ryuuko." He shivered, "She hates children, especially the sticky ones."

Ryuuko, who was looking more green every second, was currently in the arms of August's akumatized form, being licked like a lollipop.

They all shivered in disgust.

Chat Noir waved and jumped back into the fight.

"So, you know who Ladybug is?" Damian questioned.

Jason's mind went blank. When were they talking about Ladybug?

Oh yeah, before Chat Noir got demolished by a baby.

Haha.

"Right. I'll have to show you my stats after this is over. I have a feeling you'll be surprised."

Damian looked at him, apprehensive.

Jason shrugged.

He turned back to find Ladybug snapping her yo-yo shut, and a white butterfly glittering away from the scene.

"Anyway, now that our hotel is rooted to the ground again, you need to see this." Jason looked serious.

Locking the door behind him with the room key, Damian turned to the mirror to fix his hair.

He dropped his room key.

So much for Marinette being his soulmate,  
because Ladybug was staring back at him with the same amount of shock he was sure he had on his own face.

She knew.

She knew he knew.

She knew he knew she knew.

"Damian?" Jason looked at him. "Oh shut the front door! You have a soulmate!" He slapped his hand on his knee, laughing loudly.

Damian stared at him, unable to comprehend whatever the heck just happened.

"Demon? Who did you see?" 

"Damian?"

"I-" He took a deep breath, "I saw Ladybug."

Jason's eyes widened.

"Holy shit." He breathed "I was right."

He already knew he was right, but this just raised the percentage of his suspicion from 99% to 101%.

Damian's mouth dropped open.

"You idiot! You knew who Ladybug was and you didn't tell me? I don't wanna know now!"

"If you would stop being such a fool I was gonna get to that, but you just had to be stupid and look in the mirror, you narcissist!"

Damian tackled him.

"Eugh! Get off me, Farticus!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t worry. It’ll all be okay. (I hope)


	4. In Which Adrien is All of Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is the best bro and Damian doesn’t know what he wants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D

Ladybug dropped through the open hatch on her balcony and turned towards the mirror.

What she wasn't expecting, was Damian staring at his reflection gobsmacked.

Oh. He's staring at me.

It was her turn to look gobsmacked.

He knows.

She didn't want it to turn out like this. He was supposed to see her as Marinette, not Ladybug.

She saw him turn and say something to someone, probably Jason.

He's gonna tell Jason and then Jason is gonna tell him who I am and Hawkmoth is gonna kill me in my sleep and take my earrings-

Her earrings beeping brought her out of her planned-out demise.

She quickly exited through the hatch door and raced against her own thoughts to the Eiffel Tower.

She curled up in a ball and tried to smack the blush off her cheeks.

This is wrong. This is all wrong.

She sighed, when is her life ever normal?

Chat Noir dropped in next to her and sat down.

"Alright. Spill."

She looked at him, shocked.

"I know you, Marinette. You seem distracted." He pulled her head into his lap and stroked her hair. "Tell Adrikins what's wrong."

She sighed, closing her eyes.

"Damian's my soulmate. I saw him in the mirror the day Lila threw her coffee all over me." She started, "He didn't see me until after the akuma attack today. Nearly two days after."

Adrien looked apprehensive. "That's weird. Soulmates usually see each other at the same time, but there's something else, right?"

Her lip trembled, "I was transformed when it happened." She opened her eyes to see Chat staring back at her with a shocked expression.

"Oh, shoot."

"Oh, shoot indeed, my friend."

A minute passed by until Adrien said something.

"You should tell him." She flew up, narrowly missing his chin.

"Are you crazy? And risk him getting akumatized from sheer shock?!" She threw her gloved hands over her face. "I couldn't fight him!"

"Are you stupid? Damian? Showing emotion? That kid is like a robot until it comes to you." Adrien dramatically swooned, "He looks at you like a man looks at water after being parched on a desert for three days: hungrily." He wiggled his eyebrows.

She blushed madly, "Adrien!" 

He continued. "And that jawline? It could cut metal, honey. His physique is defined and toned, but not bodybuilder-type. Just right."

"Okay. Is he your soulmate, or mine?" She pushed him.

Laughing loudly, he pulled her into a hug. "I'm just saying! Don't be worried, he's your soulmate for a reason, love. Nothing can break a soulmate bond. Through thick and thin he will be there for you, and while he's over there for you, I'm gonna be here. Guiding you along the way." 

She pulled back to look him in the eyes, "God, you're the best, Adrien. Thank you."

He smiled down at his best friend. Where would he be if she hadn't helped him through his touch-starved teenage-transition? It was the least he could to for someone who deserved the world.

"Now, go!" He shooed her.

"Are you kidding me, Adrien? It's ten P.M., I'm not gonna go to his hotel room and keep him up all night."

He pouted, "Fine. But first thing tomorrow! And I want all the deets! And you HAVE to go to sleep, okay? No thinking!"

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, fine, whatever. Goodnight." She watched as he bounded away.

She could do this.

She got a weird feeling, like someone was watching her, but she was on the Eiffel Tower at ten in the dark. Nobody was allowed.

She shook it off and leapt home, trying to sleep despite all of the thoughts running through her head.

Damian stared up at the ceiling from his postition on the bed, unblinking.

Ladybug?

The mirror had blended back into his reflection when he turned to look at it. He could only guess Ladybug had fled when he started speaking to Jason.

This was just a setback. He would take a few days off school and set this whole thing straight.

Who cared if Marinette wasn't his soulmate?

He did. He cared a lot.

Marinette! He had temporarily forgotten about her in the midst of his angst.

God, what would Marinette think of him, having a soulmate other than himself?

But she doesn't like you. She already has a soulmate, too. His subconscious whispered.

Right. She had a soulmate already.

Who the hell was her soulmate?

Some douchebag who could keep his hands to himself? Someone who didn't appreciate her work and cheated on her with someone just as unworthy as him? A pedophile with a fat mustache?

No. If someone was her soulmate, they were gonna have to step over Damian's dead body to get to Marinette. If she allowed him. Probably not. It's her soulmate, after all.

Who the hell was his soulmate?

For all he knew, she was secretly a witch who flew on a broom and hexed people. It was highly unlikely, but possible.

He liked Marinette. Had liked her for a very long time. But they both had soulmates now. She probably had already fell in love with him by now.

The thought of her falling in love with someone else made him want to vomit.

He couldn't take this anymore. He dialed Marinette's phone number, and on the third ring, she picked up.

"Hello?" She whispered groggily.

He instantly calmed down. Marinette always had that effect on him. Whenever he needed to cool off, he would call Marinette, and she always picked up. That's just how she was. He loved that about her.

"Hi, Angel."

"Damian." Her voice instantly filled with the kind of sugar that made Damian's insides warm up.

"I... found my soulmate."

"Oh?" She sounded... giddy? Like a little girl holding in a stupid secret from her parents.

"Do you know her?"

He sighed. "No. I know of her. But I don't know her."

"Who is it?" She sounded a little nervous.

He trusted her. He trusted her with his life. So ultimately, he trusted her with the knowledge that Ladybug was his soulmate. She had never gotten akumatized, and she wasn't going to start now.

"It's... uh, Ladybug."

"Ladybug? The insect or the hero?"

"Don't tease me. The hero, Marinette." If she were with him right now, he would be pushing her off the bed.

He would probably trying to kiss her, too. But she had a soulmate.

He repeated it in his head like a mantra.

She has a soulmate.

She laughed, the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

She has a soulmate.

"By the way, you never told me who your soulmate was. I think it's only fair since I sacrificed all my knowledge."

She has a soulmate.

He heard a loud gasp and a smack, most likely Marinette smacking her head.

She has a soulmate.

"Oh gosh, I never told you?"

She has a soulmate.

"Nope." He said, popping the 'p'.

She has a soulmate.

"His name is krrrrrr- you're breaking up! Kshhhhhprrrrrr." She hung up.

Why was she acting so weird? All he wanted was a name, maybe an address, maybe some criminal records, maybe he wanted to use them against him and break his sad little bones.

Maybe that's why she didn't give it to him. He sighed loudly and threw his phone in the desk.

No point in trying to figure it out. He wasn't her soulmate. He wanted to be. He wanted to be her soulmate really bad.

If he was a moth, she was the flame. He couldn't keep away from her no matter hard he tried.

Maybe her soulmate bond is platonic?

He doesn't know about Ladybug, but she didn't seem to happy to see him, either. Maybe their bond was platonic.

He laid back down and closed his eyes to find himself falling asleep.

"Phew! Tikki, that was close!" Marinette huffed, flopping down on the bed.

Tikki giggled, "You're so silly Marinette, but I hope you know this means he's going to be mad at you once he finds out."

Marinette looked at the tiny god. "I hope he's not too mad, though. He'll understand." She looked away, "Right?"

Tikki put her paw on Marinette's shoulder. "Of course. He's your soulmate, Marinette. I have a feeling it'll all turn out okay in the end."

Marinette hugged the little kwami as best she could without crushing her, "Thanks, Tikki. I love you, you know that?"

"Of course I do. I love you too, Marinette."

After Marinette fell asleep, Tikki stayed up thinking,

Of course I love you. Your one of the best bugs I ever had the pleasure of knowing.

With a hope and a prayer, Tikki settled into her spot on Marinette's pillow, and fell into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone have any suggestions for the next chapter? I didn’t write it yet so I’m open for any requests. I’ll make sure to tag your excellence when I write it :3


	5. Marinette Hates Math

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s not a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn’t post yesterday. I was finishing my ideas for the plot line and I can safely say I have a plan.

Marinette hated math. The coefficients and variables swarmed around her head until they settled in the middle of her puddled brain like a ball of mush and prevented her from correctly solving the problem.

This wasn't math, but it still had the same effects on her.

Damian's phone call last night had messed with her so bad that she didn't know whether to fake her death or change her name and flee the country.

She recounted all she knew:

• Damian is her soulmate.

•Damian's soulmate is Ladybug.

• She just so happens to be Ladybug.

• Damian does NOT know she is Ladybug. (she hopes.)

• Jason knows she's Ladybug. (How, tho? She'll have to ask him.)

That was pretty much it, how to go about it, though?

Time to channel in her inner confidence and talk to him as Ladybug.

She stood up, forgetting where she was.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng? Going somewhere?" Her math teacher looked at her through his glasses.

She flushed as people around her giggled. 

"No, Mr. Brodeur, sorry." She sat back down and hid her face with her hair.

From beside her, Chloe nudged her. 

"You good?" She whispered, Marinette nodded and she turned back to the bored, sighing loudly and fiddling with her pen.

Damian has probably returned to Gotham by now, she didn't know why he was there in the first place. She knew he was going to see her when she visited with her parents for Christmas, so there was really no reason for him to be here.

She gasped. She had been acting so weird lately, of course he had noticed, and it didn't help that two out of three of his adopted brothers had jumped on a plane to Paris, probably without telling anyone.

She knew she had been a bad friend lately. She couldn't help it. Her brain had farted so much in the past three days she was sure it would deflate.

It was time he caught up to speed with her.

She was going to get Damian and Ladybug together. 

She knew he would be confused when he figured her out, but it was the best way to go about this whole situation was to guide him in the right direction.

The bell rang for lunch, and she ran out of the classroom as quick as she could without making it seem like she hated math anymore than she did. 

It seemed Damian had the same idea as her, because his name lit up on her phone, indicating he was calling her.

"Hey, Dami." Marinette answered.

"Hi, Angel." He needed Marinette's help. Jason couldn't be trusted with this like the imbecile he was, so he needed to believe he could count on Marinette, despite her recent crypticness.

Despite was Jason thought he knew about Ladybug, he wanted Marinette's help with this. Being a native, she had seen and most likely interacted with Ladybug on a weekly basis, so between a literal zombie and his angel, he wanted his angel to help him.

(And if it was because he wanted to spend more time with her before everything changed permanently, he would forever deny it.)

"Are you in Gotham yet?" She pulled him out of his thoughts.

"I was thinking of spending a little more time here, since my soulmate is here." The words left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Right, silly me."

"I need to ask you something." They both said at the same time. They almost burst into laughter, but this was no laughing matter.

"You go first." Damian said.

"I asked Ladybug out on a date for you." She said.

What!?

"Please don't be upset! I just thought, since she's your soulmate, you might want to meet her." That's when he realized he had said that out loud.

He flushed, even though she couldn't see him, "No, no. I'm not mad, Marinette. This will assist me in my investigation."

She coughed, "Assist you?"

"I want you to help me figure out Ladybugs identity. Jason thinks he knows but he's a heathen so I don't trust him with this. You've conversed with Ladybug plenty, right?"

"Right, right. This was easier than I thought. Um, Are you free to meet Ladybug tomorrow at the Eiffel Tower at 9?"

This was it. Their lives were progressing in different directions, like most friendships do. It didn't sit well with him. He couldn't fall for someone he didn't know, and he knew Marinette.

He was in love with Marinette, not an insect.

"Yeah." He clicked the red button.

"Did he seem... dejected, to you?" Marinette pondered to her kwami.

"I can see where he's coming from, Marinette. You might be pushing this a little faster than he wants." 

Right. Boundaries, Marinette! There was still one thing she needed to do. She needed to spend time with Damian before this all went south, as it inevitably would. She had such a bad feeling about all of this. Like it would be used against her somehow.

'Meet me at the park in ten minutes?' She texted Damian.

'K.' He responded, because that's how he was. He didn't show emotion through texts or voice, but she could see them so clearly through his eyes.

His eyes. They were an emerald green, so unlike Adrien's grassy green, or Lila's swamp green. Just glancing at them reminded her that he was always going to be there for her, as she for him. 

He was probably disappointed in her at the moment, planning everything without his consent, but this was for the best. She knew this was the wrong way of going about this. But she didn't have any other plan. He would thank her later down the road when they had three kids and more pets than they could count.

She traveled to the park and sat down on one of the benches, her eyes roaming over the area around her.

Arms snaked around her front and she felt hot breath puff across the back of her neck.

"Angel." He greeted.

"Dami." She blushed, putting her hands on top of his. He walked around the bench and sat down next to her so their shoulders were touching.

"You wanted to see me?" He gazed at her.

She gazed back. "I wanted to spend the afternoon with you. I know this can't be easy, and I'm not making it any easier."

His eyes were full of so much emotion, it was worrying her. Part of him looked like he agreed with her, and the other part looked like it wanted to protest badly.

She interrupted the silence, "Are you okay with that?" She wasn't giving him any room to object, like she knew he would.

He sighed, seemingly defeated in the battle between them. "Of course I am." He grabbed her hand and gave a squeeze.

She squeezed back, maybe they were okay. 

A bright smile slid onto her face as she hopped up from the bench, "Alrighty! I wanna go to the arcade. You good with that?"

He nodded as a small smile formed in place of his usual frown, "Of course, Angel."

As they traveled to the arcade, she let herself get lost in the sound of Damian's voice as he talked to her.

"Marinette?"

Her head snapped to him, "Sorry, what?"

He chuckled softly, "Is everything alright? You seem... distant, lately."

She stopped walking. Is this what he thought of her? Distant? She was only distant because she wanted the best for him. 

Maybe her heart was in the right place, but she was doing this so wrong.

All of this.

She sighed loudly. "I just... wanted to spend time with you before your date with Ladybug."

He made a weird face. "Date? I only want to get to know her, Marinette." He turned to her, holding both of her hands in his, "And if I'm being honest, I kind of like someone else."

His eyes seemed to be watching her reaction. Conveying something to her, but she didn't catch it, switching all her attention to trying not to let her eyes water.

"Someone... else?" She was lost, so lost. She hoped he didn't hear her voice waver.

"Someone else." He repeated, looking so adamant on telling her who it was without any words.

She didn't want to know. If it wasn't her she didn't want to know. Because she loved him.

She wanted him. She was doing this for him. She wanted to know if he approved what she did in and out of the suit. If he didn't, she wouldn't know what to do. Change her name and dye her hair?

"Who?" He sighed, knowing she didn't get the message.

You, he was trying to say.

He just didn't know how, so he used his eyes. The eyes are the window to the soul, after all. She seemed to like when they communicated without words, just because they could. They understood it as much as they understood each other, which was as much as one could possibly imagine.

He was getting a little frustrated, to say the least. She wasn't getting it. He didn't want to know anybody else the way he knew Marinette.

For not the first time, he wished Marinette was his soulmate.

"I think you'll like her. I get along with her, so I think she's good enough for your friendship." She looked down, curling in on herself. She looked so small, normally barely reaching his shoulders, but now she looked about 2 feet tall, which was probably how she felt. 

He squeezed her hands tighter, but not enough to hurt. "Mari, you get along with Chloe. I don't exactly trust your judgement." She cracked a small smile at that. The smile he loved.

He nodded ahead, "Come on. I want to beat you in Ultimate Mecha Strike for once." She looked up, a familiar fire in her eyes.

"Never! You'll never beat me!" They both laughed as they made their way to the arcade.

Flopping down onto his knees on the dirty arcade floor, he bemoaned in the loss of yet another set of games against his angel.

She giggled at him, "Silly goose, don't underestimate my powers when it comes to Mecha Strike."

He looked like a kicked puppy, "Where do you find the time to practice this much? Between school and patr- er, studying, I usually don't have any time to spare."

Her body language was what he studied, alright. And now it was telling him she was apprehensive about what to say.

"It's one of my nightly activities. I always make time for it."

One of them? What were the others? He wanted to know all of them. From when she put her socks on, to how long she brushed her teeth for. He was getting a little obsessed.

She continued, "Like I always make time for you. I will always make time for you." She looked up at him with those bluebell eyes he loved so much.

He smiled and hugged her tight, "I love you, Marinette." He whispered in her hair.

She stiffened a little before she relaxed. "I love you too, Damian."

She didn't know that he meant it as more than a friend. 

She stiffened a little upon hearing those words, but she knew he didn't really mean it. Not in the way she wanted him to say it, so she relaxed.

"I love you too, Damian."

He didn't know that she meant it as more than a friend.

She wanted so badly to tell him and end this mess, but she needed to put him through the test first. Could he handle her risking herself everyday? Especially when no one actually knows that the miraculous cure doesn't heal miraculous holders. 

Once he slightly released his hold on her, she looked up at him, at the emerald eyes she dreamt about every night.

He leaned down, his eyes half-lidded.

She leaned up on her toes.

Both of their eyes slowly closed.

Just as their lips touched, she heard a gasp and a giggle that made her cringe.

Not again.

She pulled back to look at Lila taking photos of her and Alya giggling, once they realized they had been caught, they ran off.

"What the hell was that?" Damian glowered at the spot they had previously stood in.

She shook her head. "S'not worth all the trouble, Dami." She glanced at him, he was flushed and his eyes shown anger.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Well, I think we can safely say this night was ruined. I'll walk you home?"

She nodded, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze, "I would like that."

They reached the bakery and stopped in front of the door.

"This is it." She looked at him. He was scratching the back of his neck and looked nervous.

She reached up to kiss his cheek. "Goodnight, Damian." I love you.

He blushed, "Goodnight."

She opened the door to the bakery once he walked away, and found her parents staring at her with grins on their faces.

"What?" She glowered.

"Nothing, Marinette. How was your date?"  
Sabine asked sweetly.

"It wasn't a date!" She stomped upstairs.

It wasn't a date.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you @Hyghenia and @justwondering for your ideas!
> 
> Fun Fact: Broduer means embroiderer in French.


	6. Damian Goes on a Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting more clear for both parties.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter kicked my butt. Enjoy.

Marinette woke up with vengeance on her mind.

Lila and Alya's interruption had been uncalled for, and she was going to confront them. For interrupting her kiss.

Her kiss with Damian.

She mentally swooned. It was safe to say that she knew who Damian liked now. It was her. Had always been.

That made her want to snap both of their necks. She curled her hand into a fist and wore an outfit that was sure to make their disgusting mouths drop.

She was a fashion designer. Clothes were her revenge and her justice.

She wore a white turtleneck that clung to her curves in the best way possible and fashionable flare jeans. To top it off, she wore brown ankle boots with buckles on the side. She had sewn the clothes from her own blood, sweat, and tears.

She was ready to conquer the world. 

As soon as she stepped in the classroom, Chloe whistled at her, "Damn, girl. You look hot."

Marinette winked and sat down beside her in the back. "Just for you, Chlo." 

Adrien walked in and took a look at Marinette. "Who pissed you off this time?" Sitting down in the seat in front of them.

She growled, "Wretched witches #1 and #2. Someone please dump a milkshake on them."

Chloe gawked at her, "Don't you dare waste a precious milkshake on them."

Adrien gave her a look before speaking, "They deserve it. Anyway, don't do anything rash. You don't know what she could do to you. Almost getting you expelled? She could do much worse than that. But what happened?"

Marinette took a deep breath, "I was at the arcade with Damian yesterday and I almost kissed him, but of course they had to interrupt."

"Ooh, tall, dark, and broody finally got some." Chloe nudged her with her shoulders.

Marinette pushed her, "Chloe, this is serious. They took pictures!" Chloe's playful expression morphed into one of disgust.

"Are you kidding me? That's fucking illegal." Adriens eyes darkened, "Let me tell Damian to sue. Please, Marinette." He pleaded.

Marinette shook her head. "Not just yet. It isn't a good time. I need to tell Damian to not tell anybody just yet-" Her phone rang.

Dick was calling.

Adrien looked at her phone and whistled. "What were you saying again?"

She glowered at him and pressed the green button. "Shut up." She pressed the phone to her ear and after two seconds of yelling, she winced and pulled the phone back.

"Dick, tone it down. I know you're mad, but you need to speak coherently enough for me to understand you." She said calmly.

"Are you okay Marinette? I'm gonna sue! Can I sue? Damian said I could sue!" Dick yelled through the phone.

"Gah damn, Dick. No, you cannot sue. I have it under control." She pressed the end button, silencing Dick's yells.

She didn't have a plan, she just wanted to get Dick's mother-hen energy away from her. She really wanted to sue, but this wasn't a good time. She needed a plan to take Lila and her kingdom down, starting with her dear Uncle Jagged. But that would have to wait for now.

"What's your plan?" Adrien looked smug.

Damn that smugness. He knew she didn't have a plan. They could read each other like a book and yet he chose to torture her with his smugness.

"Look, Damian's going to meet Ladybug tomorrow and they're gonna talk. Okay?"

Someone tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned around to see Alya's angry face staring down at her.

"Marinette." Came Alya's accusing voice.

What did she do this time?

"What did you do? You stole Lila's designs and now you have the audacity to wear them to school?" Alya accused.

Oh. She said that out loud. 

Lord help Alya. She had just made Marinette mad. Lila and her goons could trip and mock her all they wanted, but her designs? No way in hell were they talking shit about her designs. She was about to slap the bitch.

Her eyes darkened. "Are you fucking kidding me?" She stood up and stared Alya down. "Tell your little two-necked giraffe, lying little tramp, dumbass, that nobody gives a fuck about her! And by the way? I didn't steal her design. Her little sausage head couldn't designed a fucking dress even if she TRIED." She took a deep breath and looked around the room.

Everyone was staring at her, Adrien and Chloe in awe, the rest of the class shocked and angry, including Mme. Bustier.

Shit.

"Marinette. Go to the principals office right now." Her face got redder with each word that cake out of her spineless mouth.

Yeah. Get mad. Fuck you too.

She stormed down the steps and with one last middle finger at Lila, she walked down to the principles office.

"You'll be fine, Angel. If you want, I'll sue." Damian said over the phone.

"I don't want to hear the word sue come out of your mouth at all for the next week." She added. "I know you tattled to Dick on me."

Damian sighed. She didn't need to see him to know he was rolling his eyes and scowling.

"This isn't good. I got suspended for standing up to my bullies? Bull shit. Two days might not seem like a lot, but every second that I'm away, her little snake head is tightening around my neck until it slices off."

"Calm down. I think if I go to the principle and tell him what actually happened, he'll go easy on you."

She sighed. "You think you can change his mind? That stubborn old man still eats Wheaties because he doesn't "believe" in Reese's Puffs. Who the fuck does he think he is?" Damian chuckled at that.

"I think my affiliation with Bruce Wayne shall suffice, Angel."

She forgot about that.

"Right."

It was now 7 pm, after she had told her parents about the suspension, they had been outraged on her behalf and threatened to go to the school board. She'll keep them in their cages.  
For now.

"Are you ready for your meeting with Ladybug?" He had drilled into her head that no, it wasn't a date, and no, he didn't like her. Fair, considering he didn't know her. Damian saw past looks and status, once he stopped being hostile out front.

"Ready as I'll ever be. Nerve-wracking, considering she is the sole protector of Paris."

"Hey! Don't say that! She has a team." Marinette didn't like it when people thought of her team as a bunch of side-kicks. They were much more than that. They were all partners on a very personal level. They were all collectively her rock, including Damian.

"Right. Of course. Sorry, Angel."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence. Even though they couldn't see the others face, they had grown accustomed to the silences that plagued their conversation when the important parts had ended, but after that almost-kiss, she didn't know if it was appropriate to say "I love you", or not.

Fuck it.

"Goodnight, Damian. I want to hear all about your "meeting" with Ladybug. She'll pick you up in a few. I love you."

She heard a choked sound. Was he drinking water when she said that? Her thoughts were cut off by his response. "I love you too, Habibti." He clicked off before she could question the new nickname.

Habibti? She'll ask him later. Right now, she has to pick him up from his hotel.

She leaped from building to building till she found Le Grand Paris and subtly swooped into Damian's open window.

"Ladybug." She jumped, turning around to where Damian was leaned against the wall, with his arms crossed.

Damn, he looked hot. She felt her cheeks heat up.

"You must be Damian. I've heard a lot about you." She walked over to where he was standing.

"Hopefully good things." He looked closed off, not at all what he looked like when he was with her civilian identity.

"Of course. Marinette thinks very highly of you." He perked up at that. She chuckled. "You must like her a lot."

He blushed and looked away. "I... yeah."

She smiled. She loved him so much. "May I?" She held her arm out for him to step into. He did and she wrapped an arm around his waist.

"Get ready." She whispered. He nodded and she squeezed him tight, but not enough to hurt.

She flew out the window and traveled via yo-yo to the Eiffel Tower. She set him down and after a few seconds, they both simultaneously sat down at the edge.

"How old are you?" She asked.

"Eighteen. You?"

"I'm eighteen as well."

They lapsed into awkward silence. This was nothing like what she had experienced with a Damian as her normal self. She just had to get right to the point.

"I have a dilemma that I need your help with."

"Shoot." He nodded.

"My friend. He doesn't know I'm Ladybug. We'll call him...uh, Satan."

He scoffed, "Satan? Who the hell is this guy?"

She rolled her eyes. "Someone very important to me. I've known him for a long time. Anyway. Satan doesn't know I'm Ladybug. Do you think once I tell him... he won't like me anymore?"

He tutted. "Depends on how cowardly he is. If he was like me," He gave her a look, "He would understand and support you. But if he was a lesser man, you shouldn't tell "Satan"." He laughed at the nickname. If only he knew.

This was a good sign. She should tell him. She should tell him before it's too late. He'll get mad if she keeps it from him any longer. She-

"I have a personal dilemma too. One similar to yours. Since we are soulmates, I deem you trustworthy of my tender feelings on this subject."

She rolled her eyes. That was Damian, all right. So formal. A secret, though?

"I have been keeping a secret from my closest friend." Was she that closest friend? Was it Jon? 

"It's a very big part of my life, and I want to tell her. I just don't know where to start."

So it was her. What was he hiding from her? He said it was similar to her problem. What the heck does that mean? Is he secretly like, Batman, or something?

She pondered for a moment. "Just tell her. Life's better without secrets. I would know." She looked at him, and found him staring at her.

"What?" 

"I feel like the words are just slipping from my mouth. Like I don't have a filter." She laughed.

"Soulmates naturally feel comfortable with each other. I'm not surprised."

"Right." They lapsed into another silence, only this time it was tentative, more comfortable.

"You know. I thought soulmates were stupid when I was a kid." He looked at her incredulously.

"What? You sound stupid, like Marinette. Why would you not believe in something real? Like Manifest Destiny."

"Maybe I am stupid." She was. She didn’t think of him as a friend anymore. No. She wanted to be his lover. She was so stupid for denying her feelings all these years when she could have been happy with him, when everything was so simple. It wasn’t so simple anymore.

"What the hell kind of answer is that?" He nudged her with his shoulders.

"To be honest, I just kinda wanted to change the subject."

"You heathen. You're the one who said it."

They bickered with each other until they were both emitting peals of laughter.

She sighed, "You're a good guy, Damian." She smiled at him.

That smile. It looked a lot like Marinette's, but different in a way he couldn't define. He stared at her, feeling a sense of familiarity, but that was just the soul bond. Right?

"Thanks. We should do this again. I'm fairly certain we'll find ourselves friends in the future."

She clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth. "Are you always like this?"

"Yes."

She sighed and pulled an arm around his waist. He couldn't explain the feeling of butterflies in his stomach even if he wanted to. He didn't.

This was different. With Marinette, he always felt confident in his feelings. He knew he liked her and so he almost kissed her. She had almost kissed him too. She felt so right in his arms, and yet, this felt right too.

He couldn't explain it. No. He didn't want to either.

They flew until they were back at the prestigious hotel he was staying at.

"Thank you, Ladybug. I enjoyed this evening."

She smiled up at him. "Likewise, Damian. I look forward to getting to know you. Maybe out of the mask eventually." She winked.

His mouth formed into some semblance of a smile. He liked this girl. “Goodnight, Ladybug.”

“Goodnight, Damian.” And with that, she leaped out the window, leaving him wondering if it was all real.

His life had turned and twisted in every way possible in the span of three days. He sighed, looking out the window.

“Have fun?” 

“Shut up, Drake.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Timmy.


	7. Things Get a Little More Real

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hands are broken. People get a little mad. Butterflies are corrupted.

Damian had gone to the principle about the whole mess and not surprisingly, he had revoked her suspension with shaking hands.

She strutted into homeroom the next day, ignoring the glares and stares of her peers and sat down next to Chloe.

"You bitch. I expect to hear every word about what happened yesterday." Chloe filed away at her nails while taking a peek at Marinette.

"Of course, my queen. Should I decapitate myself for your humor now or later?" Marinette teased.

The whole predicament of going to school had fear gripping her chest and uncertainty clawing at her insides, but she had two blondes by her side. With those two people, she felt she could waltz into Hawkmoths lair and grab his miraculous without a fight, but where was the fun in that?

"I picked him up. We talked. I told him about my predicament. He told me about his-"

"His?"

"Apparently he's in a situation similar to mine."

Chloe hummed. "Maybe he's Batman."

She scoffed, "Don't kid, Chloe." She was certain he was going to tell her sooner or later. She had to be patient.

The day passed by with only a shove, and the first thing she knew, the last bell rang for the day.

She was grabbing her stuff from her locker when she heard a slam and a crack. Shock spread from her head to toe when she realized it was her locker that had been slammed shut, and her hand was stuck in the door.

She whimpered, overcome by pain and fear. She turned around to see Lila grinning maliciously with her arms crossed. She gritted her teeth and detached her throbbing hand from the door.

"You better fucking watch yourself, Marinette. I know you bribed Principle Damocles to get you out of your suspension, slut. Should've just took it with grace and stayed home. But now I'm forced to do this."

"Thanks, but no thanks." She turned to leave, only to get slammed up on her locker by Lila.

"Fine. You leave me no choice." She prepared to get punched, but seconds went by and nothing happened. She peeled her eyes open to find Lila scrolling through her phone.

Her face twisted in confusion and Lila started speaking.

"Great job keeping your identity a secret, Ladybug. You really know how to rock the boat."

She gasped. "What are you talking about?"

Lila sneered at her. "Don't play fucking dumb. You're gonna listen to me and you're gonna listen good, or else the whole world is going to know your secret identity, and we wouldn't want that, would we?"

Marinette's eyebrows furrowed, "Whats stopping me from breaking your phone?"

Lila hummed. "Your broken hand. Maybe you are an idiot." She laughed. "Doesn't surprise me."

Marinette gulped and looked down at her hand. Yep, it was broken. This bitch was surprisingly strong for a flat giraffe. Lila found what she was looking for and turned her phone so Marinette could see the video.

It was the night on the Eiffel Tower when she talked to Chat Noir about her situation.

She gasped again, "How did you get that?" Dread creeped in and settled into her bones, her face an ashen white.

This was bad.

Lila walked up to where she was towering over Marinette and she had to crane her head up to look at her. Damn their height difference. "That's none of your fucking business." Lila growled. "I have a job I want you to do for me, or else I'll give this to Nadja and the whole world will see your pathetic face on TV and laugh at you. Oh, and your precious 'Damian' will hate you. Whoever the fuck that is."

Her head dipped down to Marinette's ear as she whispered, "Here's what you're gonna do."

Marinette stumbled back into her room where Damian was waiting on the bed, and promptly fell onto her chaise.

Damian scanned her for any injuries, scowling when he spotted her battered hand.

"Who the hell did this?" He questioned.

She jumped up from the chaise, not knowing he was there. "Uh, what?" She hid her hand behind her back, she had gone to the hospital and got a cast after Lila had threatened and blackmailed her. She shivered just thinking about it. "Oh! I got a haircut. The stylist down the street did it-"

"Don't play dumb, Marinette."

She sighed and looked down. "Lila." She muttered.

His face darkened. "I'm gonna kill her. What else did she do."

It wasn't a question, but she refused to let down her guard. She couldn't tell him. He was going to hate her if this got out. Hate her for lying to him. Keeping secrets.

"Marinette." She flinched when he brought a hand up to gently tip her chin upwards and meet his angry, but concerned gaze.

"I can't tell you." She steeled her self for the inevitable rise of anger.

He just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "I'm gonna sue."

"Damian! I'm serious! You can't do that! This is a serious situation!"

"Then why won't you let me HELP you?" Damian yelled. He was getting frustrated, understandably, but that didn't stop her from flinching away from him. Damian noticed and forced himself to take a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. You'll tell me when you're ready." Damian carefully took her broken hand and pulled out a marker from her desk.

"Um, what are you doing?" She looked at him.

He looked her dead in the eye and said, "I'm signing your cast." He uncapped the marker and signed his first name with a heart at the end that made her blush a pretty shade of pink.

Damian looked at her fondly. "Whenever you're ready, Mari. I'll be there for you. No matter what." Her eyes shone at that. It was time to tell him.

"Damian, I-"

A thump was heard as Lady WiFi teleported herself for Marinette's bedroom through her phone. Her angry face grew more shocked and mad as she looked at Marinette's cast.

"I knew it! Lady WiFi here reporting actual good news! Marinette Dupain-Cheng broke her hand while she punched Lila Rossi!"

Marinette's eyes widened comically. "Punch her? No! She-"

Lady WiFi pointed her phone at her and grabbed her by her bad wrist as she whimpered in pain.

"You've always been a jealous whore, Marinette, but this surprises me. Physical bullying?" Lady WiFi taunted as if she hadn't participated in shoving and pushing Marinette into floors and objects. It hurt seeing her ex-best friend act so vehemently towards her.

She needed to get away to transform, but she couldn't possibly do that with all of Paris and an akuma watching her so closely.

Damian, enraged, pounced on Lady WiFi and grabbed her in a headlock. This was her chance to get to the akuma!

"Damian! Her phone!" He grabbed her phone and threw it to Marinette, where she threw it on the ground and the akuma fluttered away from it.

"Come back here!" She found an empty jar from her desk and closed the lid once the akuma was safely secured inside.

She turned back to Alya's now deakumatized form and realized Damian still had her in a headlock and was staring at her in awe.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you were Ladybug."

She gasped, momentarily overcome by fear that he had figured out her secret without her knowledge, but quickly figured out the meaning behind his words and blushed a dark shade of red.

"I..." Damian released Alya from his hold as she looked around.

"Why am I here? Marinette?" She looked confused, but quickly overcome with anger as she took in Marinette's broken hand.

"I knew it. You jealous bitch. You punched Lila because you were jealous of her having a soulmate when everyone knows you DONT have one?" Ouch, okay. Not true.

Damian snarled behind Alya as she turned to look at him. "Oh, and you." She pointed an accusing finger at him. "Who are you? Huh? A pedophile two times her age? I wouldn't be surprised. You don't have a soulmate either?" She cackled madly.

"Don't make me sue you, Cesaire. With my financial and influential power, I could destroy you because of that picture you took." He warned. Alya rolled her eyes and walked downstairs, but not without one last glare at the both of them.

Marinette sighed and looked down, where she could see Damian's feet coming into view. He took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Are you okay, Angel? You know nothing she said is true." She nodded.

"Yeah... I think I need to take a shower, though." He nodded.

"Of course. Goodbye, Angel." He opened the trapdoor and disappeared from her view.

She quickly transformed and purified the akuma, casting the miraculous cure.

"I need to take a walk. You coming, Tikki?" She looked at Tikki who was munching on a cookie and nodded. 

"Yep! Just give me a moment!" Marinette nodded and tied her shoes. Once Tikki was done, she walked downstairs and bid goodbye to her parents.

She walked out the door and toward the Champs-Élysées, where she strolled absentmindedly.

It was a dark place at night, though usually not uncomfortably. She sat down on a bench and sighed.

"Long night?" A voice said from behind her. She jumped, turning to see who it was.

"Robin? You're in Paris?" Robin waved her off as he sat down next to her. She couldn't help taking in the sight of his horrid costume, frowning at the traffic light colors.

"I was hoping to investigate this Hawkmoth situation. From what I hear he is a domestic terrorist using a magic jewel to... get more magic jewels."

She nodded. "It sounds unbelievable, when I think about it. I wish it would stop. So many people end up getting hurt, or worse; die."

He frowned. "I was hoping to see Ladybug after the akuma attack and converse with her about it. How are you, by the way? After that, I would be mad." He looked at her solemn face.

"I'm used to it. Not being believed. It hurts. Lila slammed my hand in a locker and later I find out that I supposedly broke that same hand punching her?" Bile rose in her throat.

"Who would believe that wretched person over someone they've known all of their lives?" Her voice broke at the end. Robin raised a tentative hand to her back and rubbed as a few tears fell from her face.

"She slammed your hand in a locker door?" She looked at him, shocked to see his expression.

He was sneering, his eyebrows furrowed.

"You know, you look a lot like my friend. He does that when he's mad too." She looked off at the distance, thoughts trailing to Damian.

Those words seem to snap him out of his thoughts, he relaxed on the bench as he looked at her.

"He seems like a very handsome person." She giggled.

"Oh, yes. He is. Very much like you." She winked and he chuckled. "He's my best friend. I would hate to lose him." 

"What makes you think you'll lose him?" He looked confused.

Marinette's face grew sorrowful. "I have a secret, Robin."

He scoffed. "We all have secrets. You aren't going to lose him over a secret. Especially if it's very sacred. He should respect you enough to understand."

"Okay, but... something happened today. My secret was compromised. Things are so much more complicated now. I'm basically doing a job for someone and undoing it an hour later."

Lila has been very clear about what she wanted with Marinette. Help her create akumas. Don't get in her way. 'Be my personal dog toy.' As Lila had put it. She basically already was, if her broken hand had anything to say about the matter.

"That doesn't make sense. Are you concussed?" Robin grabbed her head and inspected it, as if he would find anything. She pulled back, giggling at his confused expression. She quickly sobered as she explained herself.

"It's complicated. Say, it's like if you baked bread just to throw it in the trash."

"Ah."

"Let's see. I think I can help you with your Ladybug situation." If only someone could help with hers. "I have her phone number, she sometimes comes to me to discuss tactics and who Hawkmoth might be. We plan and investigate together. I'll tell her to meet up with you tomorrow?" She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Adrien.

"That's would be great, thank you."

'The cow jumped over the moon.' She hit send.

Of course she wasn't going to text Ladybug. She WAS Ladybug. She settled on a stupid text that didn't make any sense to send to Adrien instead.

'What the hell is wrong with you' he texted back.

"Alrighty! She's free." She stood up, Robin following in suit. "Thank you for letting me get everything off my chest. It feels nice to talk with no strings attached." He nodded.

"If you ever need anything, I'm right around the corner." And with that confusing sentence, he jumped off somewhere, presumably his temporary residence.

Right around the corner? Who the hell was this guy? She shook her head and walked home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How’d you like Robin? He’s a little too nice in this chapter, but cmon. It’s Marinette. He’s not gonna be mean to her.


	8. Things Get A Little Less Complicated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Realizations are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @justwondering ;)

Marinette sighed as she wrapped her fluffy pink towel around her body. She had taken a shower after talking with Robin. He had helped ease her mind. She was going to tell him when Alya got akumatized, but she was ready now, and there were going to be no interruptions. Not from Lila, and not from fucking Hawkmoth.

She turned to the mirror to dry her hair, when it suddenly started melting into Damian's form, scrolling through his phone on the hotel bed. Her eyes widened as his jumped up to meet hers.

His face contorted into one of shock before he realized she was only wearing a towel. She looked down and her eyebrows shot up to her hairline as she looked back up. His mouth dropped open as he scrambled up off the bed and ran out the room.

Fuck.

So many things just happened. 

He knows she's Ladybug. She hadn't counted on the soulmate bond getting in the way of her confession. God, she hadn't even thought of it as a possibility, and yet, the world seemed to think of plenty different ways to fuck up her life. 

At least it wasn't Hawkmoth again. But this was so much worse. She glared at her mirror as it blended back into her reflection.

Shit. This wasn't happening. She was going to sleep for once in her god damned life and nothing was stopping her. Even as she felt control slipping from her grasp and into the hands of everyone else in her life. No. Sleep was one thing she could control when she felt like it. She changed and flopped on her bed.

"Marinette." Tikki. Tikki could help.

"Tikki! What do I do?" She bemoaned.

Tikki flew over and sat on her open palm.

"You need to set everything straight, Marinette. I know it's hard, but you're one of my best bugs. I know you can do it." She sighed, covering her face with her free hand, only to end up smacking herself because of the cast.

"Okay. Right. Tomorrow. Today, I sleep. Goodnight Tikki."

As soon as her head hit the pillow, her head popped up the image of Damian staring at her with wide eyes as he took in that she only had a towel on. She groaned and rolled over, willing herself not to freak out.

Damian had grappled home after checking up on Marinette. He sat on the bed, thinking. Marinette had been much more willing to talk about her problems with a superhero, a stranger no less. Did Marinette not like talking to him about her problems? Did Marinette not trust him? He grabbed his phone, intent on calling her, when of the corner of his eye, the mirror was blending into Ladybugs reflection again. Only this time, it wasn't Ladybug.

Marinette.

What? He- oh.

Marinette is Ladybug. He was sure he looked like a blubbering fish, but he didn't care. Only then did her realized she was only wearing a towel. His eyes shot back up to hers as her eyebrows rose far higher than he thought possible.

He scrambled off the bed and out of the room to give her privacy and desperately try to calm his reddening ears.

God. He had just seen Marinette almost-naked.

His soulmate, Marinette. Marinette was Ladybug.

Marinette said she was being forced to bake bread and throw it out an hour later, but that was just an analogy.

Suddenly, he understood.

He was going to kill Lila Rossi.

"TODD!" He bellowed, he needed to talk to the idiot.

Jason came running in the room with his gun cocked.

"Tt. I'm not in trouble. If I was, you'd be the last person to know." Jason rolled his eyes.

"Kay. What's got your panties in a twist?" Jason crossed his arms on his chest. Damian narrowed his eyes.

"As if you don't know. Marinette is Ladybug. And she's my soulmate. You knew both of those things, didn't you." It wasn't a question, and Jason knew it.

"Did I? I don't remember..." he trailed off, looking to the side. Jason whipped his head back to look at Damian. "Wait! You still have to tell her about Robin!" Damian's eyes widened.

Shit, he'd forgotten. It wasn't like he was mad at Marinette anyway, she kept it a secret for a reason. And he was determined to find out what that reason was, but first, he had to make it even.

Tomorrow, but today, he had to devise a plan to sue Lila Rossi.

“Where’s Drake?”

Tomorrow rolled around like a fucking pencil on a desk. Too soon. Marinette didn't even know how she was going to greet Damian. She had received a maximum of three hours trying to decide what she was gonna say. Simplicity and speaking off the top of her head will have to do this time. She didn't have a plan, yet she never really needed one, unless she was fighting an akuma.

But Damian knew that, because he knew she was Ladybug. He would understand, he had to.

She got dressed and walked to school, Damian, the only thing on her mind. She arrived at the steps and immediately saw Lila in a horrendous orange jumpsuit strutting toward her. Shut the front door, she wasn't ready for her yet.

"Marinette! My favorite little bug." She smiled widely and squeezed her arm painfully, almost breaking the skin.

"Lila." She greeted coldly. She knew she was getting odd looks from people, being seen with her mortal enemy. Lila leaned down to whisper in Marinette's ear.

"Remember what I told you, Maritrash. I'll hack into every computer in the world and play that video unless you do what I say.” Uncertainty creeped into the back of Marinette’s head as goosebumps rattled her skin. She felt as if she was a pawn, letting Lila dictate her every move, making her more anxious and anticipating with every step, until she’s thrown to the side, forgotten about. 

She looked in to Lila’s eyes. Swamp green glared back at her, silently daring her to disobey. She would submit to her, for now. 

But, for later, she was going to scrape up every ounce of incriminating evidence against the glorified storyteller until her books fell down, one by one.

She nodded stiffly, bluebell eyes drawn back into a squint, studying the girl before her. 

Lila smiled, as if she had won the civil war. Her heels clacked as she walked toward Alya and Nino, who were sitting on a bench together, most likely playing Super Penguino.

Marinette glared after her, only stopping when Adrien and Chloe walked up to her. She turned to them.

“She knows.”

Their eyes widened as they whipped their heads to look at each other and back at Marinette.

“Specifics?” Chloe demanded. Her eyes had went from playful and carefree to cold and calculating in a matter of milliseconds.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir.” Adriens eyes widened further, his eyebrows jumping to his hairline as his mouth opened to speak.

“How?”

“She was there the night on the Eiffel Tower. When we spoke about Damian.” She saw the gears turning in his head, remembering that night. She saw when his mind clicked in realization, his hand reached up to slap himself on the forehead. She waited a moment before continuing.

“She’s blackmailing me. Threatened to show the whole world. We need to like, slit her throat now.” She was just joking, but she could see the at Chloe and Adrien were seriously considering it.

“I was kidding! We can’t slit her throat, but we can sue.” Adriens eyes lit up.

“It’s time?” All three of them now had a dangerous glint in their eyes.

“It’s time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was a short chapter, but it set the tone for the next one.


	9. A Plan is Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These people actually aren’t that dumb. Who would’ve friggin thought?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments. I love reading them! They make my day like, 10x better. Also, please read the note at the end of the chapter.

To carry out their plan, Hawkmoths defeat was a vital part in gathering evidence that Lila was working with him. Adrien had been suspecting his father a while now and bugged his office. Needless to say, when he checked the feed, he was fucking disappointed.

He had been gathering evidence for months now. Whenever Gabriel went on business trips, akumas would suddenly stop and reappear once Gabriel arrived home. 

He recorded conversations with Lila and Gabriel and downloaded them onto his flash drive. He knew she had been working with him when he found out he was Hawkmoth, after all, how the hell does someone with ponytails for sideburns snatch a modeling gig with a top dog designer? He was going to put those conversations to use later, but for the time being, he had to get Marinette and Damian together. It was all apart of the plan.

Adrien traveled to the bakery and greeted Tom and Sabine with a hug before trotting up to Marinette's room with a plate of croissants and a wide smile. (He couldn't say no to Sabine.) 

"Adrien?" Marinette had been working on a commission when he walked in, hunched at her desk and sewing together two pieces of expensive-looking fabric. Her photos of him had long been brought down and instead, replaced with pictures of Marinette and their group, including some pictures of Damian's family. She still possessed the same pink vibe flowing through the room, "for inspiration" she had said. He put the plate down and sat on her chaise.

"Hey. I want all the deets on Damian. Something happened. I know it." Marinette's stress hadn't all been because of Lila, he knew. She had sent him a text three days ago.

'The cow jumped over the moon.' She had sent, she usually only did that when she was stalling or in a tough situation, usually involving her secret identity. "That text you sent me? I know Lila didn't approach you at night, as scary as that would be, so, was it Damian?"

Marinette wiped her hands on her pants and stood up to sit next to Adrien. "Yeah." She replied. She took a deep breath and he braved himself.

"He saw me, detransformed that night, and he ran out as if he was being chased by a polar bear. I haven't even seen him since then. He probably hates me." She buried her face in her hands as he rubbed her back affectionately.

"Don't be stupid, Marinette. He loves you. He was probably just surprised." She gasped at that, realizing something. She jumped up and stared at him with wide eyes.

"He just surprised! Oh God! I was only wearing a towel!" His jaw dropped.

"A towel?" She sprinted out of the room without so much as giving him a goodbye. He shook his head, looking at the floor.

"A towel?"

Marinette raced through the streets until she came across Le Grand Paris. She flew through the doors, quickly greeting the guard, and raced to the elevators.

He wasn't mad at her! He was just embarrassed! The elevator dinged as it got closer and closer to where Damian was currently residing.

He saw her half-naked, though. 

Her face reddened and she pushed the elevator button to go back down, but the door opened itself.

Blue eyes jumped to meet green. He stiffened a little, surprised to see her face. 

Damian.

Seems like she couldn't escape after all. He opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it.

"I understand if you're angry with me. I would be too." Damians eyes widened as he stepped onto the elevator.

"No. Never. I was simply surprised." He stood next to her and stared deep into her eyes, reaching a hand to grab hers. "I have something I would like to inform you about."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "No. It's fine. You don't have to tell me anything, I don't deserve it." She looked at the elevator floor in shame.

"Don't do that." She looked up at him in surprise as he tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Don't think of yourself that way. You did what you thought was right. It may not have been the best way to go about the situation, but it's over now." His eyes seemed to be on fire, burning into every inch of her soul, studying her. 

She studied right back.

This was her soulmate, of course he would understand. The trouble she had went through all this time seemed to be unnecessary, looking back on it.

"You're right. It's over." She blinked up at him, releasing the hold on his hand and reaching up to hold his face with both of her hands.

He appeared to understand what she was trying to do, because he leaned down to where their faces were only inches apart.

"Marinette." He breathed her name an octave lower than her what he usually addressed her with. She melted into his embrace, and guided his face to where their lips met.

This wasn't like the last time they kissed. They had barely hung onto each other for a moment before they were ripped away, but this time, it seemed as if they had all the time in the world.

It wasn't like fireworks, or the feeling you get when you ride a rollercoaster: exhilaration and adrenaline. It felt right, like coming home. Like snuggling into your bed after a long day away from it. It felt content.

She sighed into the kiss, deepening it with her hand. He dragged her impossibly closer into his chest, wrapping an arm around her waist, as if he were trying to absorb her with sheer force.

After what felt like hours but were probably only mere seconds, they pulled away from each other as the elevator doors opened.

She took a deep breath and offered her hand to him. His hair was messy, she had probably unknowingly dragged her hand along it; his lips were red and swollen. She was sure she looked the same.

He enveloped her hand with his, marveling at how right it felt. They stepped off of the elevator, and walked out of the hotel.

"Does this mean your my boyfriend now?" She stared hopefully at him. He chuckled and squeezed her hand. "Yes, beloved. It does."

She smiled widely and pecked him on the lips.

Kagami slammed down a binder full of various photos and papers on Chloe's bed, straightening back up to cross her arms tightly and stand next to Luka.

"This is it. But we have to make people realize she's a dirty liar before we sue. More people to testify." She added when she saw the confused looks of Adrien and Chloe.

Luka nodded. "That makes sense. Jagged and Clara are good enough, but it would seal the deal to have more people." He walked over to the bed where the binder sat and flipped it open, flitting through the evidence.

"What are the charges?" Chloe asked.

Luka continued to look at the evidence before he answered. "Slander. Defamation. And this." He pulled up Instagram, scrolling to Lila's private account Tim helped him hack into. He flipped over the phone to where the three teenagers could see.

"She didn't." Chloe gasped. One of Lila's posts were of Damian and Marinette, kissing in the arcade.

"She's dumb enough to do that shit? Doesn't she know anything about the French Privacy Law? Droit d'image. Neither of them consented to have the picture taken or to have it publicly posted, even if it is a private account." Luka nodded, flicking to where the photo of the account was copied and laminated.

There was a knock on the door. Kagami stood and strided over to the door, opening it. 

The door opened to reveal an angry-looking Jason Todd, an exhausted Tim Drake, and a Dick Grayson who looked as if he was about to scold everyone in the damn room.

"So... I'm guessing you told them about the blackmail?" Adrien asked. That seemed to be the wrong question because the three men whipped their heads toward him. His eyes widened as they walked slowly toward where he was sitting on Chloe's bed.

"Blackmail?" Jason asked, and oh, did he look mad. Adrien cowered away, suddenly terrified by the look on their faces.

"Did I say that? I don't think..." he trailed off, waiting a moment before jumping off the bed in attempt to get away, but Tim grabbed onto his wrist and forced him back on the bed.

"Don't be stupid, Agreste. Tell us." He questioned. Adrien swallowed, wiping his suddenly clammy hands on his pants.

"To tell you is to tell you a secret that not many people know." Tim sighed as Jason started to speak.

"I know she's Ladybug." All heads in the room whipped toward him, those who knew and those who didn't. The silence was so deafening you could hear a pin drop.

After what felt like hours, Dick finally decided to speak. "She's Ladybug?" Jason sighed.

"Of course she's Ladybug, you fucking idiot. It makes perfect sense that someone with no sense of self preservation would be a damn superhero." Dick pouted.

"That mask covers half her face? If you wanna jab at someone, make it Mr. World's Greatest Detective over there!" He pointed at Tim as the man in question gasped, offended. He was about to say something when Kagami interjected.

"Silence. This has gone on too long already. There has been two akumas since then, probably Marinette-inflicted. If we want to expose this girl, we have to do it during Christmas break: Hawkmoth's favorite time to take advantage of poor little kids." Kagami's tone struck everyone silent, all cowed by her superiority.

Jason nodded. "Can you give me all the details of this supposed blackmail? Tim will hack into this bitches computer and find the evidence she's holding over Marinette's head."

And with that, they got to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I posted a Jasonette fic, would you guys read it?


	10. Marinette Meets Her Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette arrives in Gotham, but she didn’t exactly greet the fam the way she would’ve liked to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know it’s been a week and I’m so sorry but pls forgive me I had writers block 🥺 enjoy!

Christmas break rolled around sooner than anyone expected. With gathering more and more evidence for the lawsuit they were about to slam down in Lila's awaiting red hands, more and more akumas had been popping up in result of the blackmail.

It was especially hard keeping herself together after Damian had eventually gone back to Gotham. She felt a hole in her heart when he wasn't with her, and now she knew why.

Marinette plopped down on her desk chair and huffed out the entirety of her lungs. She had just finished purifying two very deadly akumas in a row. 

After nearly getting a concussion, she would never look at ukuleles the same ever again.

She needed a fucking break. She pulled out her phone and dialed Damian.

"Angel?" It felt like the weight of the world escaped her shoulders just hearing his voice. She closed her eyes and leaned further back on the desk chair.

"Damian. I miss you. It's been a few weeks. I'm getting absolutely no where with this lawsuit shit." She threw the folders full of arguments further away from her. "I'm thinking about bashing in Lila's skull myself. Any objections?" She heard Damian laugh come in soft pants from the other line.

"No, Habibti. I wouldn't object to that, but it would be much more fruitful to sue her, don't you think." True, but the whole process was taking time that they didn't have.

Every single akuma was getting Hawkmoth unknowingly closer and closer to getting Ladybug's miraculous. She had already avoided about four akumas that were sent her way by sheer luck. She had to get out of here.

"Come to Gotham." 

What?

"What?" Damian sighed, and she knew he was rolling his eyes, even if she couldn't look at him.

"You heard me. Come to Gotham. You can obtain that horse and come back for an akuma attack. That way there's no excessive akuma attacks." He paused for good measure, and she knew he was talking about her "deal" with Lila. "And... I would like to see you again."

She knew he was blushing, and it was adorable when he blushed. His ears would tint strawberry red and he would look away and rub at the back of his neck. 

"Okay." She smiled, lips stretching out to her ears. She would love to see Damian's family again, for they had always treated her with utmost respect and kindness.

She also loved pranking them. Last Easter when she had visited, she made broccoli-flavored macaroons filled with toothpaste in them. She had gotten a good laugh when all of them scrunched their faces up and pretended to enjoy them.

"Book a flight. I will reimburse you. Goodbye, Angel." The call ended. She sighed, turning her head to look out the window.

It was a dark night, the rain beating down on the Miraculous Team for the duration of the two akumas, the wind howled against her window, letting her feel a phantom of the chill she had endured.

The lamp beside her illuminated her decorated pink room with a soft yellow glow. It was so peaceful, so quiet, so simple, and yet, when she thought about it, no. It wasn't simple at all.

Nothing was ever simple for Marinette, the word did not exist in her vocabulary. It was simply nonexistent. Her life was the direct antonym of simple.

Complicated.

She pulled herself out of the chair to climb on to her bed and stare at her kwami's sleeping form.

"Are we going about this the right way? Suing a teenager?" She whispered to herself. Younger Marinette would never sue someone for the sole purpose of getting back at her bully.

No, this wasn't justice. It was revenge.

She knew what justice was, and it wasn't this. The bluenette smirked to herself. Justice was proving Lila's lies untruthful in her own way.

The eighteen year-old stepped out of the baggage retrieval area, sliding her sunglasses off of the subtle slope of her nose, reaching her hands down to straighten her cherry-red striped sweater, a parting gift from her parents before she left the very morning.

She felt Steph before she saw her.

"Oof!" She realized she was on the dirty airport floor, because a wild Stephanie Brown lay on top of her, hugging with all her might.

All of it.

"Steph," she wheezed, "I'm glad to see you too, but I can't breathe." Steph pouted as she reluctantly released Marinette and helped her stand.

"I missed you, boo!" Stephanie continued to hug her, despite the fact that people passing were offering them weird looks. She didn't care, Stephanie Brown was her bitch.

So she hugged back. Tightly.

"Damn! You been working out?" Stephanie let go and winked at her. She snickered and grabbed at Steph's muscled arm. Tikki poked at her leg through her handbag and she suddenly felt a damper on her mood.

It was as if there was a bad aura haunting the airport. She looked around and saw nothing but smiling families and lone adults typing away at their cellular devices, walking in opposite directions. She shivered and turned back to Steph.

"Hypocrite. Let's roll. I wanna see Damian." Steph narrowed her eyes but grinned nonetheless and started walking toward the exit.

"Bossy. Let's see wha-" Marinette furrowed her eyebrows at Stephanie's widening eyes. Stephanie turned to her and gripped her hand that fueled her confusion further. She turned to see what Steph had looked so worried about.

Scarecrow. Just her luck. She had just about everything to fear at the moment. Why in an airport, though?

People around them started to gasp and scramble to get away from the Rogue, yet here she was, not making a move. She swallowed thickly, holding Steph's hand in a death grip.

"Steph? What do we do?" She didn't turn to look at Steph to know that she didn't have a plan. Suddenly The blonde ripped her hand away from Marinette and ran away.

"Stay safe! I'm gonna get help!" Marinette floundered, opening and closing her mouth like a fish. Who the hell leaves a teenager alone in an airport all by herself with a very dangerous criminal?

Oh, right. Steph does.

She turned back to Scarecrow to find the airport almost empty and the Rogue facing her direction.

"What? You didn't lock the doors little bitch?" She glared at him. Now was not the time to be scared, if Tikki's instant banging on her leg was saying anything.

Scarecrow walked toward her. "You aren't scared? That's too bad. I'll just have to make you scared." She sneered, mirroring his actions and stopping when she was about ten feet away from him.

Scarecrow lunges at her, knocking her to the ground. He reached for something behind his back and she took the opportunity to flip them over and hold both of his wrists to the ground beside his clothed head.

Suddenly she was aware of someone behind her and swung her leg to kick them in the face. She turned to see who she had just kicked into unconsciousness. One of Scarecrow's goons.

Scarecrow struggled beneath her and he finally got one of his wrists out of her hold and stabbed a needle in her neck.

She grunted and head butted him as she soon found herself staring a very real-looking Hawkmoth beneath her.

She gasped and her eyes filled with tears. Hawkmoth.

Suddenly she wasn't in the airport, because she was in a Paris that oozed blood out of every crack and crevice of buildings. There were dead bodies everywhere. Her family, her friends.

Damian.

She was going to tear the shit out of the bastard.

She growled and squinted at the man beneath her. She maneuvered his hands so that she was holding them both down with only one hand and utilized her shaky hand into punching him repeatedly in the face.

"You monster." She swore in French. "You're going to pay for all of this. Everything. I will make sure you rot in hell."

Her whole body shook as she sobbed and decked the man beneath her. Her arms were suddenly ripped away from the bastard as someone picked her up bridal style. She brought her hands to her face and wiped her tears as the scene around her stayed the same, but Hawkmoth wasn't there anymore.

Everyone was dead. She couldn't save anyone. A fresh wave of tears rolled down her cheeks as she stared off into the distance with her mouth hanging open.

"Angel." Someone very close to her whispered.

Damian.

"Damian?" She whimpered, wrapping her arms around the boys neck and hugging him tightly.

He wasn't dead. She had too quickly forgotten that this wasn't real.

It wasn't real.

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and tightened her grip around Damian. He responded by kissing the top of her head softly. She vaguely heard whispering and the distinct clack of metal handcuffs.

Something pricked her neck and she felt herself drifting off into unconsciousness.

Through her hazy mind, she heard rustling—probably sheets of some kind— and murmurs all around her.

“Y...did... t... her?” Tell who?

“She...have kno.... i.... me.” Shouldn’t have known what?

“I...you’re... call h...that lovey...shit-fu... nickn... obviou... gonna know. How are y.... explain t...you the...?”

“We will....she brings it up. I can’t tell...now that she’s in Goth... she’ll...danger.”

She cracked an eye open and saw blurry images of two people standing over her. She was on a bed, she realized.

“Dami?” She slurred, reaching a hand to rub the sleep away at the corner of her eyes.

The two boys heads turned to her, Jason and Damian, she registered in her sleep-muddled brain. They were on opposite sides of Damian’s bed.

She sat up slowly.

“Why am I in your bed?” Jason snickered as Damian flushed and huffed out a breath.

“Shut up Todd.” Damian turned to her, his glare softening, “Do you remember what happened at the airport, Angel?” Oh, right. She punched a very dangerous villain into passing out while high on whatever the bastard pushed into her system.

“Yeah.” Damian frowned at her lack of explanation and sat down next to her, pulling her into his lap.

“What did you see?” She gulped and played the the ends of his hair absentmindedly as she started to respond.

“Hawkmoth. Dead bodies. The usual. I don’t wanna talk about it.” Her hands stilled in his hair and he grunted.

“You don’t have to. Are you okay?” Was she? She was so used to suppressing her emotions she didn’t know how to act when something like this happened. She shrugged and he tilted her chin up with his thumb.

“You’re allowed to feel, Marinette. That nuisance is going to be out of your hair very soon.” His eyes burned through her soul, and she couldn’t help but believe him.

“Right.” Jason coughed and their attention turned to him.

“Seriously, though. Are you okay?” He let the unspoken words ring between them. ‘With everything.’ He wasn’t just talking about Scarecrow. He was talking about the lawsuit, the blackmail, the magical terrorist that’s been terrorizing Paris for the last five years- ‘everything.’

“No. Maybe in the future I will be. Not right now.” And that was okay, because she was with her soulmate right now, and he made everything okay. He was the moon to her sunshine, a perfect balance between the two, and there would always be. Even when they were in disagreement, they were soulmates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for commenting! I love reading your comments and suggestions!! Hopefully it won’t take a long time to figure out the next chapter.


	11. You Know What They Say.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette is a scary woman. Crack ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Literally just crack. You guys deserve it because I love ya. Next chapter is plenty angst AND action. Plus akuma.

Marinette stuck her tongue out in concentration as she sewed the finishing touch on the emerald green sweater she made for Damian. It had a white little robin on the corner of the bottom that you had to squint to make out— something for only him too see.

After she had been awoken by Damian flicking her nose repeatedly until she had to hit him so hard he fell off the bed, she had soon found herself buried in commissions and Christmas gifts for her companions.

MDC originals piled up beside her, posing as gifts for what she would call her second family.

Suddenly the door burst open and in flew a tiny child. The bluenette dropped the fabric she was examining in surprise.

"Auntie Marinette!" Mar'i flung herself in Marinette's awaiting arms and squeezed with all her might.

"Mar'i, my favorite niece! I missed you the most!" Marinette wheezed through with whatever air she had left and hugged back, stroking the half-Tamaranian's hair.

It was common knowledge to her that Kor'i was Starfire, for her nearly orange-skin stood out the most in comparison to the princess. How the only man she's ever seen eat cereal for all meals of the day managed to bag such a gorgeous woman, was beyond her.

(No offense, tho.)

"There you are, Mar’i. You left before I could tell you about that time I only ate cereal for twenty-four hours." She lifted her head up to peer into the bright blue eyes of said cereal-loving-man.

"Dick. I have some questions." She lowered her head back down to green cheekily at the ten-year-old and looked back up to find Dick pulling out the extra chair by the door by her side.

She had remembered everything by the time she had her second cup of coffee, and she was shocked by the evidence she now held but refused to acknowledge without real confirmation.

(Confirmation being a simple "yes" from anyone else in the damn manor.)

Dick huffed out a sigh, dropping the happy act he usually had on. "I had a feeling you'd say that." She nodded, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the older man.

"I... don't know where to start. Is it true?" He leaned towards on the elbows propped against his knees and peered suspiciously at her.

"What do you know?" He was being difficult. She hated when people were being difficult with her on purpose.

She glared at him, eyes staring at his exposed neck, following the way he ever-so-slightly gulped, a sign of his growing distress from being interrogated by the bluenette. "Don't play games, _Dick_." He winced when she said his name like an insult, "I-I, you guys confuse me. You all collectively leave when someone gets a simple call. Then, suddenly, two hours later, the news announced that a villain is defeated the same time you come back, and the airport!" She pinched the bridge of her nose with two fingers.

"Either you guys are the Batfamily or you really don't like spending time with me."

Dick sighed, leaning back on his chair. "Fine. Yes. We are, no, we don't hate you, cupcake. You happy?" She relaxed on her own chair, grinning at him.

"Of course. Now, let's go bake cookies." She exclaimed and grabbed Mar'i's hand and raced to the kitchen, leaving behind a shocked Dick.

Damian sighed frustratedly, violently raking his fingers through his hair. "Grayson. You told her." Wasn't a question, but Dick answered like it was anyway.

"No?" He squeaked. He was sitting in the living room when Dick walked in, a mask of guilt and apprehension on his face.

"I know you spoke with her, idiot." Dick sighed rubbing his face with his hand and crouching in front of where Damian was sitting.

"Don't be mad! She cornered me! You know how scary she can be!" He clapped his hands together in a pleading motion and pouted.

Damian tutted before getting up. Dick followed the action with his eyes, alarmed.

"What are you doing?" He rolled his eyes.

"Going to talk to Marinette. I assume she's not burying herself in commissions at the moment." He would rather she do that than panic.

Upon arriving at the kitchen, he noticed many things.

One, Marinette was definitely not panicking. Two, she was baking with Mar'i. Three, when she saw him in the doorway, she immediately glared, wiped her hands on her pants, and strode over to him.

"You didn't think that it would be important for me to know, or anything? Who the hell collectively decided 'Oh, let's not tell Marinette we're superheroes'?"

"That would be me." Bruce. Excellent timing.

Marinette put on a feral grin that both men shuddered at.

"Brucie. Batman. Thanks for that, by the way. It's not as if it was serious, nah. You know, you might want to speak to the Justice League about their ability to answer distress calls? Terrible service when you're fighting an emotional terrorist five days of the week." Bruce scrunched his face up in confusion, before returning to his impassive mask.

"You're Ladybug." She grinned at him before turning back to grab oven mitts and grab the finished cookies out of the oven.

"I'm surprised Damian didn't tell you already. I guess keeping secrets runs in the family, hmm?" Damian subtly flinched at that.

"Angel, I'm... sorry." Damian hesitated, and Marinette knew how hard it was to admit he was sorry. "I was being irrational. I see now that it's vital for you to know." Marinette's face softened, and she laid a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Dami. I understand." She did understand, being that she had to lie all the time to her very own family.

She turned back to Bruce and grinned. "Is Selina coming over for dinner? I made cat-shaped cookies!"

Selina Kyle groaned as she flopped down on the couch. Beside her, Tim raised an eyebrow.

“Selina!” A sweet voice rang out from the kitchen, and Selina shushed Tim. “You didn’t finish the cookies!” Tim oh’ed in understanding, and pointed in the direction of the bathroom.

Selina nodded and scurried away.

"Bitch." Chloe's greeting came out slightly distorted over the phone.

"Love of my life. How are you doing on this fine evening?" She was sure Chloe could hear her smirk over the line, and sighed.

"Not good. Akuma. Get your butt over here. Now." Chloe's tone left more to question then there was to answer. She sounded angry and nervous at the same time, and Marinette knew it wasn't because of the akuma.

No, that tone was usually associated with Lila. Lila had done something, and Chloe was so nervous it seemed into her tone. That didn't usually happen.

She grabbed the horse miraculous and raced down to the living room where Bruce, Jason, and Tim were sitting.

"Quick! Akuma! I need someone to go with me." They all looked up in alarm before Jason stood.

"I'll go. I wanna see the little bitch who wants to steal magic jewelry from children.” He paused, looking back at Marinette.

“Teenagers.”

Bonus: Letter to Marinette, from Damian.

_Dear Ms. Dupain-Cheng, I received your previous letter, and I just want to say, your grammar is incredibly horrendous. How old are you, nine? I won't judge, English is not my first language either._

_I will suggest you do get a dictionary, for you have a long way to go to catch up with me. To answer your question, I'm almost twelve years of age. And yes, I have seen Batman and Robin in action. I must say, they harbor very good form and fighting techniques. Especially Robin. I hope your day carries on well._

_Your Pen Pal, Damian Wayne._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your encouraging comments! I wouldn’t have been able to get this done if it wasn’t for you guys.
> 
> My cat is sleeping on my leg. Help.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Jason teleport to Paris to fight the akuma.

Ladybug and Red Hood dropped down from the portal Kaalki had formed for them. The unexpected duo then looked around.

Nothing was out of the ordinary. People bustling around in the streets, cars and buses lined up to get where they were going. It definitely did not seem like an akuma had struck the city.

Chloe said there was an akuma, so where was it?

Ladybug flipped open her yo-yo and tapped on the bee icon. No doubt Chloe was transformed right now, but she hadn't made the alert of an akuma on the city-wide akuma alert app.

Chloe's wary face popped up on the small disc and Ladybug squinted at the scene behind her.

"Hold on... where are you? Everything looks fine." Ladybug murmured in confusion. Chloe was standing in front of the Arc De Triomphe with Viperion hovering behind her.

Viperion took Chloe's silence as an opportunity to insert himself in the exchange. "It's Lila. Rose recognized Damian as the guy you kissed in an arcade and Lila got so mad she grabbed an incoming akuma from the air and forced it into her hairband."

Ladybug grimaced and turned to shoot a tired look at Red Hood. She knew this would happen eventually, but maybe not by Rose's hands. She had to admit she was a little surprised. Usually Rose hangs onto every word the liar says and doesn’t care to correct her even if she knows Lila is wrong.

It made sense anyway, considering Rose was friends with Prince Ali, the latter having gone to a couple Wayne Galas. He must've told Rose about Damian.

"I take it the akuma was supposed to be for Rose?" Viperion nodded solemnly. Made sense.

Still one thing bothering her though...

"Where's the akuma? And why are there no civilians behind you?" Her confusion grew more and more with each passing second Queen Bee didn't respond to her panicked questions, until finally Queen Bee sighed and started talking.

"That's the thing, LB. The akuma sent us to a pocket dimension of earth, with like, no other people.

"There's also a television for some reason. It's not hooked up to anything, we checked, but it seems to be filming you."

Filming you.

Well, shit. "Y-you're watching me?" Hood flipped his middle finger up and waved it around. "What am I doing right now?" His distorted voice growled out from beneath his helmet.

"Put your finger _down_ , Hood." Chat Noir popped up on the screen and wagged his finger jokingly, all the while keeping a solemn expression on his masked face.

This isn't good. All of her teammates are stuck in another dimension, where apparently, they don't exist.

Apparently, she'd had to ask some civilians first, but she still had more questions for her team.

"What does the akuma look like?" If possible, Chloe frowned deeper and sighed.

"We think Lila's still in her right mind. Nothing changed about her. Still got those ugly ass ponytails...a shame, really."

"This isn't the time for jokes, Chat."

"When is the time? I'm sick and tired-" The screen abruptly cut off and she gasped and hit the yo-yo repeatedly for some kind of miracle to get it working again.

Red Hood piped up with an answer. "She's cut off the phone lines. If anyone wanted to look you guys up, they can't now. She probably erased their memory of you, too." She peered up at him with a weird look.

"What makes you say that?" Hood gave a breathy chuckle and gestures around them.

"I don't know, I think people are staring and whispering about a crazy teenager in black and red spandex beating up her yo-yo." Her eyes widened and she whipped her head up from the beaten yo-yo to find that what Red Hood said was true.

She turned back to him and slapped his leather-swaddled arm. "Coulda led with that!" The spandex-clad teen threw her yo-yo on a nearby building. "Let's hide and regroup somewhere. Be on the lookout for Lila."

"Where's Marinette?" Bruce's stoic face didn't change as he turned the thin page of the newspaper he was looking at over, but the subtle twitch in his fingers gave his nervousness away.

"I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that, Damian." He narrowed his eyes at his father and leaned across the table from where he was sitting in Bruce's office.

"You must, father. You and Drake were with her last before both she and Todd disappeared." Bruce sighed and set the newspaper down.

"Was I?" Damian gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"Don't be foolish, father."

"There's an akuma attack in Paris, Damian. Marinette was rather in a hurry when she asked Jason for assistance." Damian's eye twitched.

No one bothered to tell him his soulmate was in another continent fighting a possibly deadly mind-controlled villain?

Deep breaths. He sucked in a lungful of air and tried not to throw any vases at the wall. Or his father.

"Damian, I can see you're distressed. Take a minute to try to calm-" Damian shot up and slammed his palms on the desk.

  
Fuck it. He had a right to be angry.

"Calm down, father? Calm down? My soulmate is fighting an akuma across the globe right now and none of you bothered to tell me." He felt his face heat up in anger and embarrassment.

"Do you know what happened the last time she fought a big akuma? She had to get stitches across her _abdomen_ , father." His hands were shaking now, but he didn't stop spouting words like they were venom from his mouth.

"And no one thought it would be a good idea to inform me of this-this _blasphemy-"_

"Damian-"

" _No, father._ You lied." Damian stormed out of the office, sucking in deep lungfuls to try to calm himself down.

He wasn't overreacting. If anything, everyone else was under-reacting.

Right?

His brows furrowed in annoyance and he grabbed his Robin suit from the glass case.

He was going to go over and help, nothing more.

He was absolutely not going over there to scold Marinette and throw his katana at Todd. Absolutely not, why would you ask him that?

Once he stepped foot in Paris, he noticed that everything looked the same to when there isn't an akuma.

Must be working behind the scenes, then. As soon as he started to wonder about Marinette’s whereabouts, his phone started ringing with her caller ID.

“Damian, get out of sight, now!” His retort died off when he heard the sheer panic in her voice and chose to comply.

He grappled to a nearby building and crouched on the edge. “Marinette, what is going on? Why didn’t you inform me of this?” He could hear her audibly sigh over the line.

“Damian, I can’t explain right now, just go back to Gotham-“

“Marinette-“

_“Go back_ , Damian. I can’t argue with you right now, you need to go.” Damian gritted his teeth at her final tone.

Why couldn’t she just let him help her? What was complicated about this akuma that she didn’t want his help?

He was about to go back, but a flash of orange caught his eye. Lila Rossi.

She was walking beside the building he was crouched on, wearing a smug grin on her face.

She stopped. Directly below him. Then she looked up.

Damian was in front of the Arc De Triomphe.

“She told you to go home, man.” He blinked rapidly, the black dots from his vision disappearing as well as his dizziness that left as soon as it came.

Chat Noir stood in front of him, hands on his hips and a disappointed gleam in his toxic green scleras.

“I don’t understand. How did I arrive here?” He looked around, noting a small chunky TV looking severely misplaced in its whereabouts, with no wires attached to it.

“It’s Lila, man. She’s akumatized, but we think she’s in her right mind.” He snapped his eyes back to Chat Noir, a furrow in his eyebrows.

“How the hell is that possible?” He returned his gaze back to the TV, now noticing it was recording something.

Recording Marinette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the wait. This fic really stumped me. I felt like it was dying off because I never really had a plan for this. I just wrote it for the idea, and not the plot, but angst always gets me goin, thank you all for being so patient.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anyone seen Jason’s dog?

  
"How the hell is that possible?" He murmured to himself, returning his gaze back to the TV, now noticing it was recording something.

Recording Marinette.

His eyes widened in horror as Viperion cleared his throat to grab the robin's attention, but all he could blearily focus on was his soulmate, being recorded by a suspicious TV when he was in another damn universe.

Oh, and his zombie of an older adopted brother was with her. Holding guns. (He would never admit it, but Todd's guns are badass.)

Which made him all the more scared for Ladybug's life.

They were crouching on a dirty rooftop, supposedly scouring the streets for the girl in orange. What they didn't know, was that if she saw them, they would lose.

They would be trapped her forever, in this damned pocket dimension.

He subtly shuddered.

"- _obin_ , Robin!" He winced, turning back to an impatient Viperion tapping his scaly turquoise boots on the dirty street.

"Now that you're paying attention, I'll start explaining." Robin nodded for him to go on, but not without childishly crossing his arms with a "humph".

"Not many people saw it, probably Hawkmoth trying to be discreet, but Lila got particularly mad when Rose started to defy her. Not even Alya noticed Lila's subtle motion of grabbing the akuma and pushing it in her earring.

"From what we know, Lila's 'power'-" Viperion lifted his gloved fingers and air-quoted the word, "-Is as soon as she sent us to this other dimension, everyone just... forgets about us, including Ladybug, but she's not here." Robin tilted his head in confusion.

"How do you know they forgot about you?"

"Well for one, no ones asking about us, usually they do when they spot one of us, even if there's no akumas around.

"Two, if you had been here to see when Ladybug dropped on the streets, you would've saw that everyone was looking at her weird." Viperion finished.

Chat snorted. "Probably the polka-dotted spandex." Ryuuko elbowed him, hard.

"Yeesh! Calm down!" He heard in the background, but turned his attention back to the bulky TV.

"Maybe her power is just making people forget. I recall that Ladybug once informed me of Lila's vendetta against her." He was getting to something here.

"Or maybe," he paused, closely studying the face of his girlfriend's teammates. "Her power is spinning the truth. You said she likes to lie, right? She's sending the people she doesn't like to this dimension."

"What about Rose?" He rolled his eyes.

"You didn't see her cowering behind that bush over there? Imbeciles." Robin muttered the last part under his breath as everyone whipped their head around with wide eyes to see a head of blonde hair peeking out behind a nearby bush.

The head popped up, and indeed it was Rose. She had tears streaming down her cheeks and her clothes were rumpled with leaves strewn across them; she truly looked horrified.

"I-I should've known she was a liar! That wench!" Rose fumed, harshly grabbing the hair from her head, "Of course she was! It was too good to be true." She crumpled down on the ground again as tears leaked out of her eyes.

Queen Bee rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Gag me with a spoon. Nice sob story, daffodil." Chat glared at her then crouched down to Rose's level and awkwardly patted her back.

"There, there, little one..." Ryuuko sighed harshly and grabbed Chat by the collar, giving him a stern look before shoving him in Queen Bee's direction.

"What happened, Rose? We need to know." Ryuuko gave a comforting hand to her shoulder but her tone was final and steely.

Rose looked up through ready eyes and hiccuped, stating, "S-she claimed that M-Marinette was kissing a pedophile at the arcade-!" Damian sneered at her poor choice of words. "-B-but it was-s just Damian Wayne!" She wailed, breaking into another round of sobs.

Ryuuko grunted and looked at her teammates as confirmation and turned back to Rose when they nodded. "What else?"

Rose sniffed and rubbed at her eyes. "I-I told her that the pedophile was D-Damian Wayne a-and that he was her age and she glared at me!For a second her eyes were purple-"

"Purple? Before that, did you see her reach out somewhere and touch her earring?" Rose shook her head.

"No, actually. He hands were in fists since I opened my mouth, I-it was only after I saw it that she grabbed the akuma." The Miraculous team plus Robin looked at each other in the confusion.

Robin was the first one to speak again. "You saw her obtain the akuma?" Rose nodded, pulling a hot pink handkerchief out of her pocket and blowing harshly.

This was much more than your non-average akuma.

This was possible evidence Lila Rossi was working with Hawkmoth.

Damian's wasn't too sure about that last statement, but if his mother ever taught him anything worth listening to, (when did she do the opposite?) he was sure as hell something was going on between the cow and the moth.

(Too bad she disowned him.)

He swallowed thickly and turned back to the TV. Ladybug and Red Hood were zeroing in ona Lila Rossi flipping her hair and sauntering over to Alya Cesaire.

Ladybug narrowed her bluebell eyes and turned to Red Hood. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Red Hood slightly turned his head in her general direction and snorted.

"Pixie, I don't think you're thinking about whipping one of your guns out and landing a bullet in between that skank's eyes." Ladybug grinned.

"Not the first time that thought has crossed my mind." Chat Noir made something that sounded like a surprised gurgle from behind him.

Robin almost smirked.

Almost.

But this was serious and he couldn't believe he was depending on a zombie and his soulmate to save their lives.

He had no problem with his soulmate, it was just his adopted—dare he say— brother, to keep himself in check and not shoot the damn girl, or else they would never get a start on figuring who Hawkmoth was.

He was disgusted the though even crossed his mind, but Lila Rossi was the key to finding out Hawkmoth's identity.

He turned back to Queen Bee. "Call Ladybug, now." Queen Bee gave him a weird look but pulled out her stinger and slid it open.

"Queen Bee?" Ladybugs's confused voice filled the air. He grabbed the device and looked over at the TV where Ladybug was still crouched on the rooftop, but now she was holding her yo-yo up to her face.

"Ladybug. Any ideas on how to retrieve the akuma? Better sooner than later, you know." Ladybug rolled her eyes but nodded and opened her mouth the start speaking.

"Our target is at the park with Alya right now. My guess is, Alya doesn't seem to realize anything is wrong and is... talking to her about a pedophile?" Robin glared at Chat Noir when he snickered.

"But yes, I do. Does anyone know which earring the akuma is in? Because I've got a sort of metal device? I've seen this at the orthodontist, it clips wires. I'm certain it's telling me I have to clip her earrings, but I don't know how to get close enough."

Rose popped into the frame and nodded. Ladybug widened her eyes. "Rose? What are you doing there? I- Uh- I mean- unidentified person?-" If he had seen under Red Hoods helmet, he was sure Jason was rolling his eyes while he grabbed the yo-yo from Ladybug's grip and stared into the camera.

"Enough of _that_ , LB. Rose, right?" Rose nodded. "Which earring did you see the possessed butterfly go into?"

"Her left, I'm pretty sure." Red Hood spared a glance at Ladybug who nodded and sighed.

"Pretty sure," he muttered. "Whatever." And turned back to the offending girl now loudly proclaiming about how she didn't want to see Marinette with a pedophile.

The girl in spandex took a deep breath and flipped her yo-yo closed. It was all her and Hood now. No one else could help them in this moment if they tried.

There was one piece of information that dragged down her chances of getting to that akuma.

Lila knew her identity. No doubt Hawkmoth also knew, being in her mind with that damned butterfly and all.

She would have to get Jason to clip them, that was for sure, but how?

Her eyes watered and lip trembled slightly. She couldn’t do this. She had been given these earring at the age of twelve with a push and shove into the mercy of an emotional terrorist with no one but a kwami to fall back on.

Kwami. She had her kwami.

She backed away from the edge. “Spots off.” Red Hood whipped his head to face her.

“Pixie? You good?” She shook her head, a tear slipping down her cheek and Red Hood backed away and took off his helmet to she could partially see his face, sans the area surrounding his eyes.

“I can’t know exactly what you’re goin’ through right now, but I’m here to help, Mari.” She nodded and bit her lip, stopping a shaky shift from escaping her.

Tikki popped out of her purse holding a cookie. “You know, one of my ladybugs was a medical student.” Marinette gave her a weird look, but Tikki kept going.

“She specialized in family medicine. One time her patient had a severe ear infection-“ Marinette perked up and gasped.

“Jason! Take these clippers.” She fumbled for the polka-dotted clippers in her bag and slapped them in his open palm. “You’re a resident, specializing in ENT and convince her she has an ear infection and clip her earrings off! Be quick and don’t take no for an answer! Now, go!”

Jason took off, probably to go change into scrubs and she was left standing on a dirty rooftop.

How did everything go so wrong? She was so sure Hawkmoth knew her identity, whether Lila willingly told him or not, he was inside her brain. Her conscious mind.

She sat down cross-legged on the edge of the rooftop and waited, for it was all she could do in the moment.

Jason finally emerged after three painstakingly long minutes and rushed over to a nearby bench, hurriedly flipping open a Manila folder and adjusting his light blue scrubs before sitting down and waiting for a few moments.

Now or never. Words couldn’t describe how anxious she felt in that moment. He caught her eye and nodded. She nodded back and gave a shaky thumbs up.

Jason quickly went into the mood of an overstressed medical resident and rushed over to Lila and Alya, fumbling with his folders for a second before adjusting his prop glasses.

Green eyeshadow? Ready. Stutter? Ready. Clippers? Ready.

he tapped Lila on the shoulder, and when she turned around with a questioning look on her face he started to anxiously stutter.

“Ma’am I-I’m looking for a dog, u-um about yay-high-“ He reaches down and waved his pale as a rough estimate of how tall his dog was and oh, so carefully, reached his green stained finger and pointed in the general direction of where his imaginary dog went, inconspicuously rubbing the eyeshadow on Lila’s left ear. “He went in that direction.”

Lila looked over in the direction he had pointed to and Alya gasped. “Girl, your ear.” Lila went pale, for she had thought Alya had figured her out, and when Alya grabbed her ear, Jason quickly cut in and grasped it for himself, gasping.

“Miss, no one told you your ear was green? It’s infected! Lucky for you, I have a pair of clippers on hand.” He reached in his pocket and grabbed the clippers, snipping at her hoops.

The akuma flew out and he sneakily grabbed it, stuffing it in his pocket and zipping the zip shut. He then inspected the broken earring. “Maybe get real gold next time.”

He grinned at Lila’s offended gasp and threw the earring on the ground, running back to the building where his favorite sister-in-law was hiding on top of.

Bonus: eleven year-old Marinette Dupain-Cheng's reply to an eleven year-old Damian Wayne's pen-pal letter.

Hello, Damian. I get your ~~bet~~ letter, and I want to tell you ~~sumt~~ something that my maman tell told me.

She ~~sed~~ said that if you ever tell ~~mi~~ me that my riting is ~~her~~ ~~hor~~ ~~horren~~ ever again she will com oyver their and beet u up.

I liek robin to.

lots of luv- Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Have gud dae! Send picture of Batman for me plez?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand we are nearing into our final chapters! I loved writing this one. Tell me what you think in the comments!
> 
> More about the akuma next chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> As lé legends say, once you are deemed mature and worthy, only then shall you see the face of your destined.
> 
> Please do criticize me! I always take plot and grammar suggestions!


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